Ever since he was able to open his eyes and say, "T.V."...my son has been in love with ads. Each thing that comes on in a 30 second commercial becomes our home's 'gotta have this!' item.
It's more than a little annoying.
His latest thing is the Jakk's Eye Clops Bionic Eye. Have you seen this? It is a magnifier that hooks up to your t.v., allowing you to check things out in 200x magnification...(whatever THAT means!) and change how you look at things.
Hm....changes how you look at things. You know what?I could use some change! Or could I?? The past couple of days I've been in a bit of a funk...and while I must admit that part of it could be the time change...and the change in temperatures here...and the change in my schedule...one thing that really needs to change is my perspective.
I'm really good at noticing the negative. What's not clean...what's not new...what's not finished...what's not paid for....what's not working...what's not right. Focusing 200x on what is wrong...and feeling pretty crummy about it. "I don't want to do this....I don't want to deal with this person right now....I don't want to be in this place!"
I'm not much fun to be around.
That's not who I want to be! I want to have a positive outlook! I want to get rid of that negativity before it strangles me and chokes the good right out of me!
So....where to begin?
The Serenity Prayer (for those of you who are not familiar with it) says this: GOD....grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change...courage to change the things I can...and wisdom to know the difference.
Okay...got that.
It goes on to say this: Living one day at a time...enjoying one moment at a time...accepting hardships as the pathway to peace. Taking...as He did...this sinful world as it is...not as I would have it.
Hm....
Taking things as they are...not as I would have them. Do I do that? Do you do that? What happens when we do that?
Acceptance....and peace.
And understand...this part comes AFTER the first part. Knowing what's in your control and what's not in your control...scrutinizing things...checking them out...but also to live one day at a time...enjoy one moment at a time...so your perspective isn't skewed...so you're not magnifying only the negative things and never seeing the positives.
My friends...we can't change people. We can't change the fact that the band concerts we have to attend as parents will be overcrowded...and hot...and seem to take forever! We can't trade in our mother in laws...or make our sons eat their vegetable soup.
(those are all hypothetical situations...really!) (snort!)
You know what? I was so annoyed about having to go to the concert...that I didn't hear the 7th grade band music!! I was so focused on myself...and the negative...that it was difficult to see the beauty...to hear the melody that was playing all around me...(even if it was by 7th graders!).
However...when we can change our perspective and appreciate the moment for what it is...when we take a breath and say, "Okay. This is NOT where I want to be...but this is where I am...so help me to appreciate it for what it's worth!"...we might find it's not so bad.
And actually hear the 8th grade chorus.
Acceptance and peace. I'd like those magnified 200x. How 'bout you?
No comments:
Post a Comment