I remember a time when my life was good but I saw none of the good.  I would wake up, look around and start thinking of all of the things I had to do and how my life was so empty.  Nothing was going bad at the time but I held on to things from a week, a month, a year or even years ago.  I would dwell on those things and the impact they had on my today.  This helped to lead me down a road of misery each and every day I was blessed to wake up.  I had no idea why, although I seemed to have all of the material blessings and health, I was still so miserable with a smile on my face.

A few years ago I made a decision to change my outlook after a day in church.  I had two young kids, an overworked husband while I was stuck into a pit of overwhelming busy work.  I had to figure a way out of this trap that typically leads to detached parenting, spousing (lol) and often times a feeling of “what about me”.  So I did.

I decided to focus on the great things about my life.  We all have them.  Bad things are just the peel you have to go through to get to the fruit.  This blog was important to me today because after church my husband and I had a moment of reflection.  Its been a long road for us, with a ton of ups and downs, but it seems like since that day I chose to look at things from a different perspective life has begun to change.

We’ve decided not to behave so casually about the things in our lives that should be most important.

Some of the things that have made our lives better are

• We pray for one another
• We make special time for our kids
• We volunteer whenever we can
• We have dinner together
• We don’t vacation without our kids (after all we only get 18 years together)
• We do staycation without our kids
• We talk often about the things that make us happy
• We problem solve as a family even if its about homework
• We spend family time with our pets
• We celebrate everything (even Tuesdays)
• We make time for church
• Everyones opinion counts
• Manners are worth more than money
• Our kids opinions count and their feelings matter
• We play together to get exercise (racing, biking, swimming, gardening, golfing, etc…)
• We have dance parties
• We learn about holidays as we celebrate them
• We take turns
• We surprise and do special things for one another
• We’re decisive
• We show love!

As we leave Sunday and head into Monday, take some time to focus on and write down all of the good things in your life and the things you want to see get better. This post is a focus on my life and how it is set up, but remember no matter what, we are all individuals called to live our unique lives.  In church today we learned that it is important to know there is something better for us once we are open to it.  Sometimes our troublesome times are the bridge to our good times.  Fight for those good times as hard as you fight through those tough times.  This is your life and you get to write the story with the choices you make.  When my son is running track he tries to look behind him and every single time he looks back he falls.  The same thing happens in life, when you look back you often fall!  Once you have your list, you can then focus on a plan how to make the one life you have the best life you have!  Keep looking forward because thats the only way you can go!

Happy Sunday from Lisa’s Lane