Skip to main content

Making a List and Checking it Twice (Choose Joy)

 Some of the best advice I heard about moving is to focus on what is good about where you are. This is solid counsel, and applicable to both temporal and geographic contentment. The pandemic provides endless opportunities for discontent, particularly comparison to how things used to be. But perspective is powerful. 


I could think about snow, which reminds me that Summer is by far my least favorite season (especially in pregnancy), we don’t have a yard/lawn/parks, and the kids have been stuck inside for months (and now can’t go three minutes without fighting). We can’t bake Christmas cookies because we made the difficult but correct decision not to have an oven in our 90 degree kitchen. Our kids miss soccer, gym class, running, and having friends. And if my thoughts go in that direction, my jaw tenses up and frustration mounts. 


Or I could think about how we have everything we need and so many things we want. A huge fan blowing. Christmas music streaming on internet better than we often had in the US. Appliances that add minimal heat to our kitchen. Sweets that can be made without an oven. A Muppet Christmas Carol on the docket for tonight. Healthy kids. Laughter. Less laundry because the kids wear little besides underwear. Vitamins. A varied diet. A hardworking, loving husband. Running water. A water filter. Meaningful work, daily opportunities to give out of the excess we have been given, and a loving Father. Many people across the world whose love and support make possible our life here. A functioning body and mind. New life inside of me. Grace upon grace. Fresh mercies every morning. This list is actually easier to make, and in short order I am overflowing with thanks for the life God gave me. Here. Now. 


We consider ourselves victims or privileged primarily based on our standard of comparison or entitlement. Social media exacerbates the problem, because the people we are close to usually have similar SES and only share the best aspects of their lives online. Imagine if we were fortunate enough to be online friends with people working hard to keep food on their tables in a war-torn country or to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds of survival (though these demographics don’t have much time to stage Instagram shoots). Would staying home seem less like a burden? In homes that have luxuries others can only imagine? When we are mindful of how much we have been given, we are better givers. And happier people. Make the right list today. Choose joy. 



Comments

  1. This is an amazing article. It was a good experience to read this content. We provide all type of tips about maternity clothing store near me. Keep posting always. I am very thankful to you.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Losing My Virtual Footprint and Physical Ticket

Thirty years ago, the technology that just turned my digital world upside down was unimaginable. I was locked out of my Google account because I foolishly left a Google voice number as a two-factor authentication. So when I was logged out of all devices unexpectedly, I couldn’t receive text messages to prove my identity.  The thought of trying to describe this situation to someone in the 90’s is comical. What is Google? Two-factor authentication? A digital world? Similarly, I can’t imagine explaining that despite having a ticket, I couldn’t board a plane that had a seat for me because a computer wouldn’t print my youngest child's boarding pass. In pursuing security and efficiency, have we lost common sense?  Technology has changed the world so quickly that I am old enough to remember a time when manual workarounds were commonplace and young enough to expect a lot more change will come in my lifetime. I spent much of yesterday trying every possible means of recovering ten years of e

Giving through Christian Health Service Corps

We are now Christian Health Service Corps missionaries. We’ve had people ask about the best ways to support us, which we will list below. Thank you for considering joining us on this mission!  If you have any questions we would love to hear from you. By Check Make payable to:              Christian Health Service Corps or CHSC Memo line:                             Project Number #176/Helm Mail to:                       Christian Health Service Corps PO Box 132 Fruitvale, TX 75127   Via Bill Pay Set up an automatic Bill Pay instruction through your bank/financial institution with donations mailed to the address above, giving your “ Project Number 176/Helm ” as the account number.   Via CHSC’s Website – for credit card donations Donate online at: _ https://www.healthservicecorps.org/author/helm/ (Please note when donating online that the Recurring Frequency default is monthly .   Use the drop down box to choose your preference.    Also, when donating online,