Enjoy the little things.
We hear that all the time, and experience it all the time, but rarely recognize the joy that daily life brings us. I was reading a post on Marc and Angel Hack Life entitled "101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking". Story #21 goes like this:
"Today, while I was driving my grandfather to his doctor’s appointment, I complained about hitting 2 red lights in a row. My grandfather chuckled and said, 'You always complain about the red lights, but you never celebrate the green ones.'"
That really made me stop and think about how much I take for granted, and how often I complain, even if only in my mind to myself, over trivial "hardships" I run into everyday that, when reexamined, make life actually interesting. So to me, that left two opportunities for me to daily find cheer, in times of hardship and in times of joy. "Mike," you say, "there really aren't many other options beyond those two," to which I excitedly respond, "Exactly!" (Check out Romans 5:3-5)
This Christmas season, I've found many small opportunities to enjoy the little things in life. For example, my parents got me a book called "The Fountainhead" for Christmas. I read about it somewhere online about a month ago and was interested in reading it, but never said anything to my parents about it, and yet it ended up under the Christmas tree. Another example of this was on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The joy that comes from God's gift to us through Jesus is something that I should find joy in every second of every day, so that's not what I'm talking about right now. What I thought was awesome was just hanging with my cousins and aunts and uncles, dad's side on the Eve and mom's side on the day. We don't spend a lot of time together throughout the year, and so getting together and just hanging out and catching up on our lives was a blast. Lastly, seeing my best friends from home has been amazing, because I'm realizing more and more about how blessed I've been to spend the past 10 years with a lot of these guys, and so every time we hang out has its own significance in that I get to experience our friendship over and over again. Anyway, that was a bunch oflame, sappy, emotional, manly things I've been thinking about this break, and I'm excited to have 3 more weeks left!
The bottom line here is to let yourself be surprised every day by things that bring you joy. Stop living as though happiness is entitled to you, and let it shock you by how often it comes. Live life through the eyes of a child who finds wonder in things daily (Matthew 18:3). You might be shocked by how blessed you really are.
Albert Einstein said that “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”.
Dang, he must have been a pretty smart guy.
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| And cardio. Don't forget cardio. |
We hear that all the time, and experience it all the time, but rarely recognize the joy that daily life brings us. I was reading a post on Marc and Angel Hack Life entitled "101 Short Stories that Will Leave You Smiling, Crying and Thinking". Story #21 goes like this:
"Today, while I was driving my grandfather to his doctor’s appointment, I complained about hitting 2 red lights in a row. My grandfather chuckled and said, 'You always complain about the red lights, but you never celebrate the green ones.'"
That really made me stop and think about how much I take for granted, and how often I complain, even if only in my mind to myself, over trivial "hardships" I run into everyday that, when reexamined, make life actually interesting. So to me, that left two opportunities for me to daily find cheer, in times of hardship and in times of joy. "Mike," you say, "there really aren't many other options beyond those two," to which I excitedly respond, "Exactly!" (Check out Romans 5:3-5)
This Christmas season, I've found many small opportunities to enjoy the little things in life. For example, my parents got me a book called "The Fountainhead" for Christmas. I read about it somewhere online about a month ago and was interested in reading it, but never said anything to my parents about it, and yet it ended up under the Christmas tree. Another example of this was on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. The joy that comes from God's gift to us through Jesus is something that I should find joy in every second of every day, so that's not what I'm talking about right now. What I thought was awesome was just hanging with my cousins and aunts and uncles, dad's side on the Eve and mom's side on the day. We don't spend a lot of time together throughout the year, and so getting together and just hanging out and catching up on our lives was a blast. Lastly, seeing my best friends from home has been amazing, because I'm realizing more and more about how blessed I've been to spend the past 10 years with a lot of these guys, and so every time we hang out has its own significance in that I get to experience our friendship over and over again. Anyway, that was a bunch of
The bottom line here is to let yourself be surprised every day by things that bring you joy. Stop living as though happiness is entitled to you, and let it shock you by how often it comes. Live life through the eyes of a child who finds wonder in things daily (Matthew 18:3). You might be shocked by how blessed you really are.
Albert Einstein said that “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle”.
Dang, he must have been a pretty smart guy.
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