30 Days of Giving, Day 1 and more

They say charity begins at home.

I decided that today's gift will be to my children in that I promise not to yell at them. You might think, "Yeah? So what?" But this is a biggie for me. I hate that I have a tendency to yell. I get stressed easily and go from 0 to 60 in .5 seconds and once I'm at 60 it's difficult to slow back down to 0. On top of that, I'm seeing my own sin manifest in my children. My 4 year old has been yelling and getting stressed easily. I've seen my 2 year old clench her little fists in anger and look as if veins were going to pop out of her neck. The two of them have had some awful fights lately.

Now, I'm not counting yelling that's necessary, like yelling at a child running out into a parking lot to stop and return, or yelling to make myself heard to stop a loud fight. I'm talking really about not allowing myself to get that stressed (often over little things) to the point where I give up on self control and yell in anger and frustration.

So, NO YELLING today. Sober-mindedness and self-control are key.

I won't be blogging about every gift, but I will list them in the sidebar to the right.

I also started seeking out verses of thanksgiving and came across Ephesians 1:16. While that was a nice verse, I decided to read the whole chapter and found it a great chapter to agree in prayer upon for my own church family.