My friend answered my text question like this:Good morning Sunshine...yes, that is her number.My reply?
Thanks. It is happy to even text with you :-).Now this person is one of the happiest I know. In spite of an ample array of life's ups and downs, she spins everything to the positive. And out of her signature of happy came her text which, by contagion, made me happy.
Are we born contented...or discontented? I have no idea. I do know that we can divide people up by their inclination to see the best...or the worst.
I suspect there is an antidote for those who are inclined to see the worst.
It's that word we never want to be reminded of: thankful.
It is annoying at times to think thankful when we'd rather complain.
It helps me to think about how God might see it. He planted America, and in our resourcefulness and blessing, we have a standard of living envied by the world. When I want to complain about cleaning the shower, does He wonder why I am not thankful for hot water?
If we are eating, we are blessed.
If we are under a roof, we are blessed.
If we have income, we are blessed.
If we can publicly search for God, we are blessed.
Maybe practicing thankful is like exercising our muscles. If we do it enough, we create muscle memory, so our life signature begins to tend toward thankfulness. It is tiring to me to be around people who find misery in moments that have blessings, especially when I am the complainer. I tire myself.
If thankful is the antidote, may I run toward it moment by moment. My friend fed my strength with happy. I want my life to sign happy for others, that I might feed their strength as well.
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