I felt the need to be deep today. No, not deep enough to ponder the Creation of the world, or the Meaning of man's existence, but just deep enough to think about the things that I need to change about my life. Just deep enough to think about who I am and where I'm going. I began to think about the blessings in my life; I have so much to be thankful for! I spend far too much time evaluating my life by all of the big things that go wrong in my life. I could fill more than one blog with complaints; there is no need to question that. But I started to think about how I no longer celebrate the little things in life. These are the things that really make life feel worth living: The sun shining on my face, the wind whispering through my hair, the rain clattering on the windowsill. The marshmallow s'mores over a fire, running in the early morning, when everything is fresh and new, catching snowflakes on your tongue, and building snowmen. These are some of the little things in life.
I am not sure when we lose this beautiful and child-like ability to find joy in the drippy ice-cream cones of the world. We no longer know how to live in the moment! When we were young we were so thrilled by an ice cream cone! We enjoyed being allowed such a treat, and enjoyed them to the max! We were not even concious that it was dripping on our pants, nor did we care. We just sat back, relaxed, and enjoyed that ice cream cone. Now that we are grown we might still enjoy the ice cream cone, but we are more concious of the dripping (these slacks are dry clean only!) or the price (they want HOW much for an ice cream cone?). Now we have lost the ability to just enjoy the ice cream cone as such, and be thankful for such a sweet "little thing" in life. For me, as a child, it was always Dairy Queen's Oreo Blizzard. Now, they don't have these sweet little babies where I live and quite frankly, I miss them! The last time I ate one I probably obsessed over the price and over how many calories I was adding to my hips. It's very rare to be able to just chuck all of your responsibilities in a corner and enjoy those little things.
Today I longed for a Blizzard. If I'd had one I wouldn't have cared for once about it's impact on my hips; I would have just enjoyed. I'm reminded of a saying that I really love, but had forgotten to live: "The good stuff is in the details." This introspection complete, I was led to think about all of my complaints that are so petty when weighed against their alternatives in life; it made me feel more thankful about the more humdrum aspects of life. I'm thankful that I have dishes to eat off of, even if I do have to wash them all by hand. I'm thankful that I have a bathroom to get ready in every morning, even if I have to constantly clean it. I'm thankful for my dog, even though she "talks" a lot and drives my husband crazy. I'm thankful for my husband, even if I have to clean up after him all the time (I'm very thankful that he was able to break me out of the bathroom when I got "trapped" in it--thank you, sweetie.). I'm thankful for the roof over my head and the bills that pour in every month, even though I have to work hard to pay for them; I still can. I'm thankful that I can fall asleep every night with a soft pillow under my head, and a prayer in my heart. Thank You, Lord.
Oh, and the next time you have an ice cream cone, just enjoy.
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3 comments:
I do so love you, my dearest "little thing" in life. How lucky I am to have someone so wonderful...
and tolerant.
I understand what you mean - too often, I don't stop to appreciate the 'little things' that really aren't that little. If God knows how many hairs I have on my head, even though I shed constantly, why should He not be overjoyed at my joy at something 'little' in His Creation? Or if He cares about one small sparrow, why shouldn't I? After all, aren't we just 'small things'? ("When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" Psalm 8:3-4) Thanks for the thoughts :). oh, and I see that you have the verification thingy. Probably a good call!
Last night, I sat outside the chapel and stared at the stars for an hour. I have three papers and two mid-terms in the next week and I just didn't care. The sky was covered in that heavenly glitter. There was one star that was shining red and blue. It was the most beautiful thing ever.
I don't know, but I don't think I'll ever be able to move beyond the beauty of the simple things in life. They bring such joy.
I enjoyed your article and though that I would share my little thoughts!
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