Thought of the Day #5
What is happiness? Is it eating ice cream or running through sprinklers? Is it Christmas or family or friends? Is happiness found in a blue-sky, sunshine day or curled up by the fire, hot chocolate in hand, during the winter? Is it spending all day with someone you love or hearing the laughter of a child? Now I do not attempt to tell you all the reasons in life we need to be happy, though the
re are many, and I dont aim to explain the secret to always being happy in life. What I do know is that there are little things all around, small opportunities to smile each day.
This topic reminds me of this silly show I remember as a kid. It was called "American Dragon: Jake Long" and it was the kind of show you watched when there was nothing else on and you wanted an excuse to not have to clean your room...so basically I thought it was pretty lame. Yet one thing I really remember about the show was my two favorite characters, sisters that were called the Oracle Twins. In the show, these girls could see the future. One was very dark and gloomy and yet she saw all the good things the future would hold. The other was very peppy and happy all the time, yet she always foretold disaster and bad things to come. In the episode I remember, someone asked why the girls acted one way, yet foresaw the opposite. The first, the gloomy one, said that since she knew that good things were bound to happen, all she had to look forward to was negative. Yet the other sister then gave her side saying that since she only saw the horrible things to come, even the slightest chance to be happy she adored.
Little did I know it then, but what these cartoon characters said held a great deal of truth. Sometimes, even when good things are happening, all we choose to see is the trials ahead. Sometimes its easy to focus on the negative things we are facing or that we think may lume ahead, but we never stop to ponder the chances to be happy even though they are right in front of our face.
I think we need to take a different approach. We need to learn to be like the other twin. She understood that the dismal events in life only make the little rays of sunshine shine brighter. She understood what it meant to find joy even in the most trying of times.
Now I know it may not be some amazingly deep theological analysis, but I think it is important to take time to appreciate the little things in life. Take a walk on a sunny day, admire the flowers in the country, enjoy good music and good food. Take time to see the little things and dont let their beauty escape your attention. What are we missing because we are too focused on the wrong things?
It's in the Little Things...
