People Before Things

When I was a young mother, I decided early on that I wanted to be home and raise my children while they were young

and impressionable. I wanted my guidance and value system to be their influence rather than that of other people. I now have five grown children and was a foster mother to six more children. I have had these beautiful eleven children ride on my right hip, read stories with them, and made countless dozens of cookies with them, especially at Christmas time. I also learned that there had to be a way to prioritize things that absolutely had to be done without sacrificing the very reason I chose to stay home with them in the first place.

There were doctor visits, dentist visits, swimming lessons and parent-teacher conferences, which by the way is a bit of a nightmare with five children 12 years apart in age. There were unscheduled visits from social workers bopping by to make sure everything was running smoothly for the little ones under their wing. Then there was the regular living things such as grocery shopping, laundry, cooking and cleaning, and of course, allowing friends over and sleepovers complete with blanket tent houses, and family excursions to Wallum Lake and camping trips, holidays and vacations.

I found myself from time to time with to-do lists to make sure it all got done. Still, there were times when many things had to be done at the same time, integrated with other major important priorities of the day. There were color-coded car pool schedules on by refrigerator, which changed often due to other parent’s working schedules. Flexibility was a must. I remember getting upset at things always changing until I realized that change is the only constant in life. After that realization, I learned to let go of things I could not change. Another thing also dawned on me that has remained a mental help in overwhelming times. I use this thought when things get overwhelming, even to this day.

PEOPLE BEFORE THINGS, became my mantra, even before I knew what a mantra was. That is when I decided I had to make a better way of prioritizing priorities. This might seem like common sense reading it from the outside. But while you are in the middle of chaos trying to handle important matters with integrity, and not lose your mind in the process, I found PEOPLE BEFORE THINGS to be the answer that helped every situation. I still use this mantra today.

This mantra, PEOPLE BEFORE THINGS, would be beneficial for everyone everywhere, in all walks of life, in ruling governments as well as in education, finance, science, and every other arena people exist in systems of the world. Employment environments especially would benefit both as a company, and in production by placing value on their human assets, by placing PEOPLE BEFORE THINGS.

If we truly prioritized people before accomplishments, goals, work out-put, we would produce healthier lifestyles, not only those of the rich and famous.

God Bless