Grateful for My Heart

First off, Happy Thanksgiving.  I pray that you're surrounded today with all the blessings you're most thankful for.  Today and every day I'm surrounded with my Savior's great, great love.  My thanks hardly seems sufficient, but how grateful I am.

While teaching last spring, one day I found myself saying, "Listen to your heart."  It quickly became the mantra of my classroom.  (If you'd like to know more, go here.)  Over the summer I made this sign, and now it's hanging on a wall in my classroom.

This fall I discovered that my favorite November read-aloud is the perfect complement to this mantra.  

At first glance, it looks to be yet another Cinderella story about the youngest of three sisters who ends up marrying the Invisible Being, the prince charming of the story, but really it's a powerful and engaging tale of the heart.  Peel back the layers, and the hearts of the characters are naked for all to see, even for six-year old eyes.  The most poignant moment in the book for me is when the sister of the Invisible Being is described as one who can look into a person's eyes and see all the way down to their heart and can tell if it's a cruel, hard one or a warm, kind heart.  My kids could tell that even though the sister who marries the Invisible Being is clearly not outwardly the most beautiful of the sisters, her real beauty lies within her heart.  

The conversations that are products of this story are priceless.  Here's evidence of one.  After reading this book, one of my little gals wrote this in her G Journal.  (Click here to find out what G Journals are.)

"I am grateful for my heart because it makes me beautiful."

Mission accomplished.