Monday, October 26, 2009

The Bumper Sticker

We were stuck in traffic last Friday, the work week had officially closed, kids were hungry, I was feeling a bit cranky and although we were not at each others throats the atmosphere had the potential for it. Since we were in the carpool lane I was passing cars by but it was slow enough that I was able to catch a bumper sticker that sparked something. I asked my wife "did you see that?" She replied "the bumper sticker?" I replied YES! Then it came to me, at that moment we installed a tradition, something that we would train up our children with, something that we would always remember. The bumper sticker simply asked a question, it wasn't magical, wasn't outrageous, even the text looked normal but in the stage of our life that we are in, what we know is ahead of us and the attitude that we had at the time it made a profound impact.

What are you thankful for?

Yup that's it, told you it wasn't magical. We made a decision after reading that bumper sticker that when life get's tough and when we may not be seeing each other eye to eye and the air is thick with attitude we are going to stop and tell each other what we are thankful for. I declared it, we agreed as a family and we did it.

So, in our little green Honda Accord, we went around saying, what we were thankful for. Even my 2 yr old gave her thanks. "Uhm I'm thankful for Zai Zai" (her brother) What a powerful moment, what an attitude adjuster, what a powerful life lesson. If your going through it today, if your attitude is slightly sour, if your confused or frustrated, stop and think: What are you thankful for?

1 comments:

Amanda said...

Wow, I love it! Sounds like a great new part of your family's culture.