Oh Boy!

The secret of happiness is to live every day moment by moment and to thank God for what he is sending us everyday in his blessing. St. Gianna

This school year if off to a fabulous beginning!  I have a room of all girls and they are an absolute joy! They are a group that can be candid, honest and open about the things we’re reading and learning.  We started the year reading the Max Lucado book, Make Every Day Count.  The girls divided up into groups and are taking turns teaching their peers about the author’s ten strategies for living faithfully and joyfully.  They have taken their work seriously and are teaching each other some great stuff.

One of the chapters began with the diary of a dog.  It highlighted the dog’s  daily schedule and it was filled with excitement over the simplest things.  It sounded something like this: 5:00 am Oh Boy time to get up, 5:02 am Oh Boy time to go outside, 5:10 am Oh Boy time to eat, 5:15am Oh Boy time to crawl up on the couch, 5:16 am Oh Boy, time for a nap, 6:00 am Oh Boy time for the little humans to get up and play with me.  It went on throughout the whole day and every event began with the words “Oh Boy”.  You could almost feel his tail wag with excitement as the girls read that part of the book to us.  It made us think!

The point of the chapter was to challenge us to look for the flowers of our days and not the weeds.  Lots of things are going to happen throughout the course of a day and some of them will be pleasant and some of them not so much.  The girls and I made a decision to use the dogs “Oh Boy” line before doing simple or unpleasant things.  For the rest of the week in our room you could hear things like, “Oh Boy, time to do handwriting.” or “Oh Boy, time to take a test.”  One of my favorites was, “Oh Boy, time to come in from recess and learn some more stuff.”  They say it with enthusiasm and silliness and every time one of them says it, the others join in and repeat or they just smile and giggle a little as they get ready to do that task they really aren’t all that excited about.

The “Oh Boy’s” are a dose of positive attitude at the right time because I sure can get cranky or pouty about the same tasks that need to be done again and again so I used the line at home.  “Oh Boy, time to do the laundry (I’ll be washing the same clothes for the 50th time).”  and “Oh Boy, time to prepare a meal.(That will be gone in fifteen minutes leaving nothing behind but a mess and the thought of doing it all again in a few hours) and “Oh Boy, I get to sweep the floor. (Which I will need to do again tomorrow because people will walk on it and track in grass, dirt and who know what else.)

I caught myself doing the “Oh Boy” thing all wrong and realized I was missing the point.  All of those things are my opportunity to serve the people I love the most.  Cooking, cleaning, grading papers, planning lessons, sweeping the floor…all of it is designed to give me the chance to love and serve God by loving and serving the ones he’s given me to tend to.  When I got my heart straight my “Oh Boy” changed.  The smile goes deep when I say “Oh Boy, I get to serve my family” or “Oh Boy, I get to serve 22 lovely young daughters of God.” or “Oh Boy, I get to grow in holiness by cooking, and cleaning instead of doing mission work in a jungle.”  Positive perspective is powerful and “Oh Boy, I’m so glad he straightened up my heart and my thinking.

A Seed To Plant:  Follow the lesson the Middle Lovely ladies taught and use the “Oh Boy” line in front of your not so terrific tasks this week.  I’ll bet it will make you smile!​

Blessings on your day!