“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more.
It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal
into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our
past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
~Melody Beattie
In the name of gratitude and truthfulness I’ve decided to post a little piece of reality here once a week. Likely just a single picture. See my original post here.
Not everyone gets excited about all the meals that happen here. During one of the recent big family dinners, this boy enjoyed his chicken leg with a side of puffed corn cereal. And now dinner is often accompanied by the statement, “I havin’ cer-rear!” He is not one bit impressed when it is denied him. Such is drama of dinnertime with six children.
I am more grateful than I can express for these family dinners, though. The noise, the mess, the complaints, along with the thankfulness, the laughter, and the memories. Despite the sad fact that we no longer fit comfortably around our small table, we squeeze and shuffle, bump elbows and kick shins. Somedays these meals feel like a jumble of chaos and confusion. Somedays there are tears, “see-food”, and bad manners.
But…there is always love; always abundance; always gratitude; always family.
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If you’d like to join in with a reality check of your own, please add a link or note in the comments!
P.S. Moving ::reality check:: to Tuesdays starting next week – see you there!
My son was extremely picky and now he eats lots of stuff. Makes me smile!
oh. my. i know this sooooo well. dinner is always always an event with seven kiddos. but yes, to the always love.
Oh, what a lovely post! Thanks for this Rachel. A great reminder to not be so impatient and grumpy with our boys at dinnertime. We have three and sometimes don’t seem to cope. I don’t know how you do it with six kids! You are an inspiration… truly.
Ronnie xo
What a sweet scene! We’re out growing our tiny breakfast table too-we do have a dining room table as well, but it’s usually what we use for homeschooling and crafts, so we rarely eat supper around it.
Looking forward to many tuesday posts!
What a wonderful reality check. A friendly reminder of all life has for us. Thank you lovely!
We squeeze around our tiny table as a family of five, but as you said so beautifully, there is always love. We, too, love our family dinners.
It’s always a big pleasure to read your “Reality check”!