There is a sweet peacefulness about sippin' a latte alone. I do my best thinking here. When I am just sitting in silence, its in these moments (yes they are rare) where some of the biggest thing I want to change all come rolling in to the forefront of my mind. 

But first.....I need a latte. Ground beans from Republic Coffee hit the spot today!

On this quiet January day, Kinsley and Cairo were napping and my sister made me a latte from this top-notch espresso machine from Capresso. It is a beautiful machine and so easy to use. My sister used freshly grinder espresso, pressed it firmly down and with a touch of a button rich, creamy espresso was pouring out from the machine in seconds. Our favourite part about the Capresso machine is that it pours two espressos out at once! No waiting for these mamas! She added a splash of eggnog to the milk, frothed it and topped it with some cinnamon before running upstairs to put Jake to bed and it was as if I was in some little café, all alone with my thoughts. 

As the saying goes "We are our toughest critics." No truer are these words today when we have easy access to the finest part of someone else's life. We get to see the highlights of the girl next door and are quick to point out the lowlights of our own lives.

I am fortunate to be surrounded by a lot of loving people. I am encouraged, lifted up, or complimented on a daily basis. Then this is where I tend to go wrong.
My initial reaction to any of these things is one of the following:
1. Divert the compliment/encouragement to a flaw that I have
2. Excuse the encouragement completely - basically saying the person is absurd for even thinking one positive thing about me because I obviously don't deserve it
3. Give a reason as to why I wasn't able to do something better

This goes all the way from someone telling me that I look beautiful, to saying thank you for coaching their daughter in volleyball, to how they appreciated me doing something for them. To each of these I have a reason to be tough on myself and respond by saying that I could be better. 

The problem is we need these compliments.
We need these encouragements.
We need them to fuel us, to strengthen us, to empower us.
As a man or as a woman, we were made to receive encouragement so I need to stop giving an excuse or a reason why I don't deserve it. I need to stop being tough on myself. Have you ever caught yourself doing this?
So this week/month/year, take a compliment how it was intended. Take it to lift your spirit up. Take it to strengthen your soul.
Take it and run with it and then encourage someone else.
Cheers, to turning our excuses into simple "Thank you's".