Skip to main content

Sprinkle. Spread. Focus

 

You, dear reader, kind of know me. My blog title, the glass is half full, gives you a clue into my predisposition. I find the positive in nearly every situation. Or, more accurately, 'found' the positive.

I'm struggling. And I know that I'm not alone. There is just so so so so much to struggle with - emotionally, physically, mentally that it's difficult not to get overwhelmed. Know what I mean?

I listened to a great sermon last Sunday. I felt uplifted and motivated to be the change - to live like Christ and lean in to the Holy Spirit and to focus on all that is "true, honorable, worthy of respect, right ...brings peace...worthy of praise" (this is a terrible paraphrase of Philippians 4:8 but you get the picture, and I'm sure God won't mind if it's not perfect when I'm trying to concisely communicate the point). John and I were in great moods as we had those words on our minds and we saw a sign that read "Sprinkle goodness like confetti, the world needs it right now". Amen, we said! Our hearts were full and we were ready to sprinkle and spread and focus. Sprinkle, spread, focus. Sprinkle, spread, focus. Can't you just picture us? Can't you just see how filled up with good intentions were we?

Then . . . there's always a 'then', isn't there? You know what I'm talking about, when life or the world does it's own kind of sprinkle all over your good intentions. That's the 'then' - I witnessed a nasty altercation between two men in the parking lot of the golf course. I'm not sure what started it but I heard a whole lot of F-bombs and other colorful language sprinkling all over my goodness-confetti intentions. Of course, it turned political. My smile turned upside down as I listened to bits and pieces. I felt my heart breaking, hope disintegrating. My divided heart. My glass emptying.

John came back to the car, having missed the whole thing and when I told him he reminded me "There's nothing you could do. Focus on what you can control". I said something like, 'but in 'normal' times those two men would not have lashed out. Our world is upside down crazy and stressed'. He reminded me, that was not within my control. And he's right. My magic wand and fairy dust are in storage, I thought, but I do have the words from the sermon, Philippians and the random sign and my positive disposition that I can use to right the parts of the world I can control. My heart was mending, hope coming back and my glass was full (literally because John had purchased a wine spritzer for me while I rode in the golf cart providing snarky feedback).

It is my mission now to sprinkle, spread and focus. Look for more on this 'project' in coming weeks. Because truly, the world needs a shower of goodness/kindness confetti. I hope you'll join me!

#kindnessconfetti

#goodnessconfetti

#philippians4

Comments

It's not a popularity contest, but ...

The summer that wasn't

It's July 30. Summer, right? Wrong!!! In Michigan, we had our summer two weeks ago for about 10 days. Saw a recent post on Facebook that read:"You know you're in Michigan when you wear your bathing suit on Monday and your parka on Tuesday." We sweltered for a week or two and then were chilled again. That's where we are now. Chilling at 70. Weather aside, it no longer feels much like summer. The back-to-school ads, commercials, displays and talk have begun full-force. And I feel like I just got used to having the three-not-so-little Piggins home again and now I have to get them ready for school. Delaney has a little longer, but Michael leaves for Wayne State law in two weeks and Matthew for his sophomore year at DePauw in three.  I get the nest re-feathered and damn these 'baby' birds but they stay for too short a time then fly away. *sigh* Since this is the "glass half full" blog of a pseudo-Pollyanna, I will revert to thinking positively ...

The "I'll Nevers" of growing older

  Years ago as a freelance writer, I submitted an essay entitled "The I'll Nevers of Parenting". It was a list, mostly, of things I had said prior to having children and the crow I was then eating because of the stupidity of the claims. You know little pearls of 'wisdom' that only someone who hasn't experienced the joys of  parenting could utter, like: I will never yell at my child in public or I will never let my child eat dinner in front of the television or my children will never stay up past 9 pm. I yelled at my children (usually when we were both tired and totally irrational!) in public. One time, as we were in the drop off lane at school with a long line of cars behind us, the boys hoped out of the car but Delaney was insisting on something that for the life of me I cannot recall and I was insisting that she get out of the van. We crept along, van door still open, until I got to the end of the line and yelled at the top of my voice, "Delaney get the...

The meaning of success and how

I sat down to write today about being cast/boot free. It is a joy to be back to my 'normal' state of mobility - which is to say that I stumble and totter like a drunken sailor but at least now I'm not wearing a big black boot. Ahoy matey! But instead, I came across the above quote and being easily distracted, I began to think about it instead. (Heck, I'm tired of the damn cast and don't want to waste anymore time thinking or writing about it anyway.) It's a quote my Aunt Bonnie first introduced me too when I graduated from high school and it's come on my radar many times since then, but today for some reason it has given me pause. I laugh often, to be sure. I'm like the uncle in Mary Poppins - I love to laugh. I surround myself with people that make me smile and laugh and am grateful for a husband that still knows how to make me laugh. I'm not to sure about winning the respect of intelligent people, though. I tend to think out of the box and...