"Find The Wonderful In Today"

Last year BERYL in Hatteras

Do you ever just need some encouragement and it seems like there isn't any to be found?  I have.  I am not sure what sets off these moods or feelings of loneliness or detachment, when the waves of life seem to knock you down, dragging you to the part of the beach you don't recognize…where did everybody go?  You get up on your feet, fix your bathing suit, wipe the salty water from your eyes and realize, you aren't where you started at.  You search the beach for any familiar sign to get your bearings and just when panic starts, you see a familiar umbrella or hear the laughter of someone you love…now your nerves start to settle and you feel complete again.  Now, you can laugh at how the wave knocked you down, you can tell the story and see how  you weren't in any real danger, just disoriented.

Kids playing in the waves…those who can't swim holding on
to those who can

Things that knock us down unexpectedly are just like the waves in the ocean.  We know they are there, wave after wave.  Some are stronger and others are sneaky, grabbing us from under.  If we go out there not knowing how to swim, we are setting ourselves up for disaster.  We have to be prepared.  Because the waves will eventually knock our knees out from under us and we will fall into the ocean.  Life, people in our lives, unexpected hurts, pain we thought would never come, comes.  Are we prepared to deal with the overpowering waves?

Here is what I do.  No, I am not immune to being knocked down, depressed, loneliness, detachment.  However, I am going to show you what I have started doing to help me when these things happen.

On Pinterest, as you all know, you can pin things.  I like to pin, Quotes.  Encouraging quotes are my favorite, things from C.S. Lewis, passages from scripture, quotes about beauty from Audrey Hepburn.  Last night I couldn't sleep and I had some things or ideas rolling around in my head that I needed to write down.  So I walked into my office and took out a journal that Bo bought me at the Ocracoke Bookstore while on vacation.  I turned on my computer and went to Pinterest.  I opened up my board of quotes and started reading them.  The ones that stood out to me, I wrote down in my journal of encouragement.  Yes, I keep a journal to encourage myself when things are tough.  Here are some of the quotes I wrote down at midnight.

"You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream…"-C.S. Lewis

Life forms us.
Sin deforms us.
School informs us.
But only God transforms us.

When life gives you more than you can stand. KNEEL.

"If you can't feed 100 people then just feed ONE!"-Mother Teresa

"Comparison is the thief of JOY"-Theodore Roosevelt

"I'm a prisoner of HOPE."-Zechariah 9:2

Reading this gets my mind off of me and puts it on something positive.  I helps me to regain my composure, get my bearings and see that I was only knocked down for a moment.  As one person said, "Knocked down but not knocked out!"

I know this post seems a little dark but it isn't really.  It is to encourage you to prepare for the hard times.  Learn scriptures of encouragement.  Write stuff down so when you cannot remember, it's there for you.  When you look back on these crazy moments, you will find joy in the and strength as you see how God brought you through.

As I read the other day, "Find the wonderful in today".