Positive

This past Sunday, our pastor talked about blessings. I am blessed. I have 3 amazing kids, I live away from the city, the smog, the crowdedness.... I do not live in the gulf where so much of our world is being destroyed by the minute. But that's not really what this is about. In his sermon, he mentioned the news. I hate the news. The news is terrible and always brings me down, making life seem hopeless, as if raising our children properly is futile. Each half-hour repeats the same crap. Fires, floods, war, death, misery... And people in our country are very much the same. Ask anyone how they are. If they aren't "Fine" or "Okay," they're "Tired" or "Stressed." It's a never-ending spiral. If you're tired, then I stayed up all night working on an assignment that I didn't have time to get done earlier. Of course, if I was up all night, then surely you must have been up all night with a sick kid, washing vomit out of your hair, rotating sheets, and mopping floors... on your hands and knees. Right? Life is a competition to see who is MORE miserable, MORE exhausted, MORE STRESSED, and we forget the blessings laid out in front of us.
While I sat in church, my mind wandered. I tried to imagine how different our country might be if the news reported good things. Sure, once in awhile there's a spotlight on a pet that saved the family from a fire by miraculously dialing 911... But what if? What if the news reported the kid down the street who mowed the old guy's lawn because it was getting a little tall and he knew the guy had just lost his wife? What if every half-hour was GOOD news? Yes, report on the war, the oil spills, etc, but don't let them dominate. Sprinkle them in as if they were the good news we so seldom hear. Would something so simple as a little good news change people? Rather than compete for whose life is in more turmoil, would people instead focus on their blessings? When asked how they are, instead of "tired," would they perhaps tell you about the good things in their life? "My son got an A in science, and I left my extra work where it belongs so we can take him out and celebrate." "Oh, yeah... Well, a small electrical fire started in our kitchen last week, but it's okay. The dog started barking and got us in there to put it out. The electician said we would need to replace the wiring on that wall, but we are so blessed. We're all alive, our house didn't burn to the ground, and we all get to continue our lives as if nothing happened." See... THAT is the world I live in. Because I AM blessed.