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 ...

When an ass is so much more

  Body image. Body positivity.  Or about coming to an appreciation for a previously much maligned back end.  In junior high (that's middle school for all of you non boomers), I was given the nickname "big butt Bowen". It was a nickname that stung because I did indeed have a large ass. I tried to mask it, a difficult endeavor since the current fashion (and remember this is junior high when fitting in was paramount) was wearing hip hugger jeans with midriff tops and my disguise of choice were peasant blouses or dresses. That style choice earned an additional nickname, Mama Cass. For those of you that don't know who Mama Cass was, she was part of the Mamas and Papas and known for her beautiful voice but also for her large body.  All about Mama Cass I was cruelly nicknamed at a time when nicknames can really mess with a girl's psyche. And I spent a lifetime as that girl with the messed up psyche. I'm sure there are more than one of you out there that can relate. B

Peter Pan no more

                          It's time. Peter Pan had to grow up.  For nearly 18 months of his life, Matthew dressed in this costume. In this picture it's new, just out of the box. He picked the costume out of a catalog and when it arrived, two weeks prior to Halloween, he asked daily if today was the day he could finally wear his Peter Pan costume. He didn't like the hat and only wore it on Halloween, but the rest of the costume he wore daily! You read that correctly - DAILY. He wore it to Meijer (for those of you unfamiliar with Meijer, it's a cleaner, friendlier, more 'upscale' version of WalMart), to church, to play dates and preschool ... Heck, he was three and adorable and it worked for him!  (Yes you read that correctly, he even wore it to church on one or two occasions when it seemed arguing with a three year old about not wearing a costume to church was not a battle worth waging. He once mentioned the priests wore dresses . . . I don't think Joh

Cabin fever made me do it!

Like nearly ever person in West Michigan, I have a serious case of cabin fever.  I won't waste your time however, complaining about the two-hundred feet of snow that's fallen in the last two hours. I won't share about the twenty or thirty times I've had to shovel my walk today as gusts blew it right back in my face. And I certainly will not lament about the temperatures that hover around negative double digits making your nostrils freeze together within moments of stepping outside. To bore you with tales of how we have to shovel areas in our yard so that our large dog and can do his 'duty' because the snow is deeper than he is tall and dogs for whatever reason cannot poop in the same place twice, is not what I will share. You will not hear about how when I open the slider to let aforementioned dog outside, gusts of wind blow drifts of snow inside and require a shovel to once again close the door.  Nor will I share how some roads around here are drifted shut be