up & down

Life. Its up and down like a crazy emotional rollercoaster - with moods you get in quickly and have a hard time getting out of(that's a down, obviously!), then the joy of talking with a good friend about love, life, happiness and your love for the Lord(in no particular order - and an obvious up).

As humans we tend to focus on the down, with ourselves and with those around us. We look at how others may need some help to avoid dealing with our own thoughts and actions, we pour ourselves into work and making sure to always be getting things done - because you know, when we do this, no one will notice that we have any stuff to deal with - or we go the total opposite and spend a lot of time alone, or sleep the day away so that we don't have to think about things.

Then why is it so hard for us to think about the good things? The things that we are thankful for and love, and enjoy each and everyday? Today in squad we went around the room and said things that we were thankful for. There was actually one point where I had the ball(we threw it around to each other)and I drew a blank. I was thinking so hard of something to be thankful for that my mind lost it all and I couldn't come up with anything!! Isn't that hard to believe? Blank. My mind was blank.

There are so many things that I'm thankful for...

changing seasons
family
good friends
love
God's grace
forgivenness
life
laughter
hugs
a warm bed
shoes on my feet
chocolate!
food in general
...

the list is seriously endless. Then why, why was it so hard to come up with something off the top of my head? I've been thinking about it and I think that selfishness has a lot to do with it. Spending so much time thinking about ourselves and the bad that's happening in our lives or around us that we forget to think about all the good...and there is SO much good.

The challenge for the rest of this week is this:

Spend as much time as you can thanking God for the things you have, and the people around you. Even try thanking Him for the trials that you are experiencing and asking Him to help you work on them.

DO IT!!!!

Blessings.