Everyone, Valentines day is next week. Here's the way it usually goes: If you're single you hate it, you complain about it, and you realize the enormity of your singleness on this very pink and red day. If you are in a relationship, you look forward to this day, even if you know all you'll get is some flowers or some waxy Hallmark chocolates. Maybe you'll even hold your breath for some surprise gesture of affection, and be grossly disappointing when it doesn't arrive. I get it. I've been through plenty of single Valentines days. They used to make me sad, and make me feel lonely. I even held on to a secret hope that someone might choose this day to say to me, "you are great. You are like sunshine to my soul. I like the person you are." Or something like that. Of course that never happened, because only I am socially awkward enough to actually say something like that out loud.
However, one day I just stopped thinking about that, stopped needing that. Never stopped wanting that, of course, but somewhere along the twisty path of life I found the inner oasis of peace and joy that only a reliance on my creator and a solid acceptance of the ways of this earth can provide.
This New Years, I made a resolution: choose joy. I decided that there was happiness for me if I would make the effort to resist self-pity, that sappy and wholly unnecessary kill-joy, and embrace the blessings and beauty that God had placed all around me. Beauty can be found in anything. The best poetry is written in the faces of strangers and the sounds we've stopped listening to. Have you ever seen someone asleep on a train? Have you heard a child laugh at something simple and pure? Have you ever watched someone pray? Does any of this make sense? I guess what I'm trying to say is, I just love this life we get to live, and all the strange things that define it. There are so many people sharing life with us right now. They smile some days and cry other days. They worry about their futures and they fall in love. There is so much happening in the hearts and heads of everyone on planet earth, and that is a strangely comforting thought. It makes a person feel small and not so alone. There is so much evil in the world, but there is also so, so much good. We just don't hear about the good as much. Sometimes we hardly even notice it. Try to find it, and if you can't find it, make it. I am trying to do that, but I make a lot of mistakes. I need a lot more wisdom before I can make any reliable hypotheses about the human experience. All I know for now is that I am blessed to be a part of it.
However, one day I just stopped thinking about that, stopped needing that. Never stopped wanting that, of course, but somewhere along the twisty path of life I found the inner oasis of peace and joy that only a reliance on my creator and a solid acceptance of the ways of this earth can provide.
This New Years, I made a resolution: choose joy. I decided that there was happiness for me if I would make the effort to resist self-pity, that sappy and wholly unnecessary kill-joy, and embrace the blessings and beauty that God had placed all around me. Beauty can be found in anything. The best poetry is written in the faces of strangers and the sounds we've stopped listening to. Have you ever seen someone asleep on a train? Have you heard a child laugh at something simple and pure? Have you ever watched someone pray? Does any of this make sense? I guess what I'm trying to say is, I just love this life we get to live, and all the strange things that define it. There are so many people sharing life with us right now. They smile some days and cry other days. They worry about their futures and they fall in love. There is so much happening in the hearts and heads of everyone on planet earth, and that is a strangely comforting thought. It makes a person feel small and not so alone. There is so much evil in the world, but there is also so, so much good. We just don't hear about the good as much. Sometimes we hardly even notice it. Try to find it, and if you can't find it, make it. I am trying to do that, but I make a lot of mistakes. I need a lot more wisdom before I can make any reliable hypotheses about the human experience. All I know for now is that I am blessed to be a part of it.
