Sweet Southern Pearl

I've spent some time today looking back over my posts from Thanksgiving seasons past. Specifically, three years ago at this time when I was battling some ungratefulness and lack of sense of purpose. It was a dark time. I'm so glad that season didn't last very long! Every Thursday I make my students list ten things they are grateful for that week. I have read that it helps boost mood when we intentionally and actively think about what we are grateful for. In addition to this, from a spiritual standpoint, gratefulness is so key. We are to offer prayer and thanksgiving to the Lord every day for what He has blessed us with. I started a couple Thanksgiving daily devotionals on the Bible app this week (YouVersion) and I'm getting my heart in the right place. I'll be honest -- being thankful hasn't been a cake walk right now. With my dad and Granny both being sick off and on the past couple months and in and out of the hospital, being so busy with everything, an

"Perfection is my enemy"...that's a line I heard in an old song on the radio the other day... We live in a world of comparisons. That's no doubt. I'd say in the past year I've fallen more victim to these comparisons than I have in the past five. I remember always comparing myself to others when I first started college but after that I was pretty good about being satisfied with myself and content in what I had. Lately I've been doing a lot of reading that encourages people (especially millennials) not to get caught up in social media, because doing so causes you to constantly ask yourself "Is my life as exciting as this person's? Am I as pretty as she is? Why does he have this and I don't? How did she get that job? How is her house always so clean??!?!?" ...etc.  This mindset is the opposite of what the Lord intended. He created each person on this earth in a different way to serve a different purpose and to be content in their uniquen