Day 2,885

Growth:

Sometimes we just need to trust, to listen to the “nudges” from The Big Dude Upstairs, and act with love from our heart. My heart has been reminded of the sewn quote under Pa Bailey’s picture from It’s a Wonderful Life on several occasions today.

“All you can take with you is that which you’ve given away.”

Pa Bailey

Appreciation:

Life throws us many wonderful things that are joyful from the start. They are amazing, awesome, and appreciated, they bring happiness so easily!

Life also throws us the stuff that really sucks once in a while. That stuff hurts, is frustrating, and can really be crushing – it can be so difficult to see any positive through it initially.

Today I’ve had the opportunity to see an interestingly large number of times how those sucky things have actually created long term joy, knowledge, and growth. For some reason it seems like this message came through about once every couple of hours to make sure I was really getting it and seeing what was happening. I’ve had the opportunity to take what I learned from those difficult times, the growth I’ve had through the hurt, and share it in a positive way to help others.

What’s interesting is that it’s also been helping me tremendously [I almost added a comparison of me being helped as much as others today, but I realized how silly it is to compare something like that. My brain typically goes straight to comparisons which can be helpful sometimes, but not in this case. Looks at that, a second Growth point for today 😉 ]. Each of these moments is helping me to pause and review that past hurt. To look at it not specifically for the pain, but rather to find the beauty created through it. I have grown specifically because of those difficult times, they have made me who I am. While I certainly won’t be rushing out to get hurt it does remind me that when I have something difficult happen that I can find the upside if I remember to pause and look for it. I’ll have the confidence to better work through the difficulty and may possibly learn and grow more specifically because I’ve got my head in the right place sooner.

What a gift!

Presence:

Becky and I got to spend some time with Gavin’s entire soccer team this evening and it was a blast! The kids were all so polite, fun, and engaging, such a gift to see their personalities live and in action. After spending time with young men like this one can’t help but be more positive about the future of our world. So many smiles – such an awesome opportunity to spend time with them today!

Thanks!!!