Looking up is actually contagious. If you've never done it before, I Double Dog Dare you to.
Such fun - and not just for children!
The only thing, though, when you play this game. It's just that - a game. You aren't really looking at anything. The goal is to try to trick others into doing what you are doing, which is actually only looking up with no reward at the end of the action.
I know something better which is not a game or a trick and is amazingly more rewarding. And the cool thing - it, too, is catching.
It's called being a contagious Christian. Yes, it's winter time and the snow is strutting her stuff in the Great White North. But the way I see it, we have two choices:
1. Moan and groan about all the inconveniences that winter brings—the shoveling, the snowsuits, the frozen fingers, the high heat bills, the short days—I could go on.
OR.
2. Enjoy and count all the blessings God sends our way in the winter—the beauty of four seasons, the chance to play in the snow with our children and grandchilden, our warm homes, hot soup, Christmas with family—I could go on, again.
By choosing door number one, we are opting to pass on the moaning and groaning and the attitude of never being satisfied. We can't wish winter away so we decide it must be our lot to complain. The only thing we accomplish when we opt for door number one, though, is our minor grumblings begin to grow. At first we are complaining about the weather and the temperature. Next thing, we begin complaining about our children and our spouses. Then the in-laws and the out-laws. The neighbours and the leaders who are messing everything up. We complain about church and those who say they are our friends. The snowball has grown. The misery and gloom has been passed on and everyone around us is thinking the same way - and before we know it, pessimism and despair are rampant.
Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed
within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my
God.
Psalm 42:11
The result? Harmony. Peace. Pure joy. And that can only happen when we look up to the King of Kings.
The Lord of Lords.
The Prince of Peace.
Wanna' join in?
Double Dog Dare you!
I will lift up my eyes to the mountains; From where
shall my help come?
Psalm
121:1
To You I lift up my eyes, O You who are enthroned in
the heavens!
Psalm
123:1
Lift up your eyes on high And see who has created
these stars, The One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by
name; Because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, Not
one of them is missing.
Isaiah
40:26
Thanks for bringing to our attention the choice we have of complaining or being thankful for winter, and the results in both in our lives and in the honour we give to God. Good verses to meditate on. (Love the Snoopy quote, too!)
ReplyDeleteYou are uplifting, Glynis! Psalm 42:11 is one of my bedrock verses that I leaned on over and over in my college years, and I am coming back to it now. Thank you for the reminder!
ReplyDeletePam M.
What a fun and uplifting post Glynis! Thanks for the bright start to this day!
ReplyDeleteOkay, I get it! I'll never complain about nasty winter again (well, I will try not to!). I choose door number two. I can just see once Terry and I open it Glynis and Gilles will be standing there in their snow suits ready for a snowball fight! We can then take time to look up and wonder how God could be so creative as to make all the snowflakes so unique! After that we can go in and drink some nice hot tea together with some cookies. I don't always feel in harmony with God and His creation but looking up has its strong points! Thanks Glynis!
ReplyDeleteI'd say it's almost impossible not to smile when reading your uplifting and uplooking verses and ideas. Glynis. Can you just imagine being one of the shepherd looking up into the sky on the night of the Saviour's birth. O Holoy Night! Thanks for bring all of this to mind.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Glynis. Being thankful became a must for me years ago. When your thinking changes, reality around you changes.
ReplyDelete