I’ve been thinking about this recently. When I was young, life just passed by. There were times as a child when I was bored, but I didn’t know anything then. I didn’t know that one day, so much life would be behind me and that the clock would be counting down. Eventually, I will run out of time and life will be over. I’m hoping that it will still be in a few decades time, but when you get to your mid-40s, suddenly the realisation dawns that you are no longer building a life, but that you are on the downward slope!
They don’t say ‘over the hill’ for nothing!
I’m on the downward slope (at age 52) but have so much life still to be lived. I’m getting edgy that if I don’t enjoy every single day, I’m going to run out of time without enjoying myself.
It all comes back to the note I’ve written about a number of times. The one now stuck close to my desk that I read quite often…
To embrace each day is to live life intentionally. It’s to focus on being happy today. It’s to aim at finding peace today. It’s to look for the small joys in life today. It’s to count my blessings today. While we may look forward to all the things to come and may make plans for the future, the future is actually made up of a lot of todays. If today is happy and so is tomorrow and the next day and the one after that, eventually it will all add up to a happy life.
Yesterday I wrote about how I felt flat. It’s not an unexpected feeling especially after they hype of Christmas and the holidays. On days like that, the best thing for me to do is to be patient with myself. It’s okay.
Smiling helps.
Have you tried it?
I have. I have felt myself feeling flat and I have forced my mouth into a smile position and I have felt a tiny chemical charge that raises my mood just ever so slightly.
If you practice happiness, you will find yourself happy.
I remember this from the many occasions I walked into the broadcast studio at 5-55am feeling burdened and struggling with the idea of having to present 3 hours of happy morning drive show.
I put on my happy face and I practiced happiness for 3 hours. When I left the studio at 9am, I was happy.
If you want to be happy, you have to practice happiness.
I know for seasons it’s not always possible.
I know that sometimes horrible life events happen that make you think you will never smile again.
But one thing I know for sure, that even when I have been in the pit of a miserable occasion, in the saddest of times, God has never left me and that is worth smiling about. He’s got my back. He can bring me peace if I reach up and put my arms around His neck and cling to Him.
Psalm 63:8
I cling to You; Your right hand upholds me.
That’s what happens.
I know it’s hard to smile during life’s darkest hours – I know it feels abnormal – even wrong and I know that there have been many times that I have not wanted to smile and actually couldn’t smile. To see someone suffering, smiles are inappropriate.
But I can praise.
And that is what I have done. I remember well when Mike was depressed and holed up in our bedroom, covered by blankets with the curtains shut and me sitting on the bed next to him saying “we are going to praise God in this storm.”
And I did.
I thanked God that He was with us. That He will never leave us. That He is trustworthy. I thanked God that in the midst of our emotional pain, we can thank Jesus that He is in control.
Not much changed that day.
Except we praised the Lord.
Mike soon came out of his depression and I always look back at that hard time knowing in the midst of it, we praised the Lord.
Living life intentionally.
If you can’t smile, praise.
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#154 of my 1000 thanks is for Cape Town’s changing weather. Summer here with warmth and cloud, with humidity and wind. I am grateful for this variety. 🙂
These are the days!
Keep the smile going.
God bless you!
In His Grip,
Helga xx 🙂