18-04-13

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Today has the potential to be anything. It could be great or it could be terrible. It could rain, it might not. People will die, people will be born. Good and bad things are happening all of the time and it's up to us to find the good things in among the bad things that are happening all around us.

Not much is happening to me at all today and sometimes that can lead to a bad day mentally because if my mind isn't kept busy, I do find it can wander into negativity and depressing thoughts rather quickly. Therefore I made the decision this morning I was going to spend today being as productive as one can while they are stuck in bed. I put on my iPod, found Switchfoot and pressed play. I then reached for a book called "Undaunted" by Christine Caine. It's a book about her own personal story of disappointments and heartache.

See, we've all been through various situations that are disappointing and we have a choice: we can either let them dictate how we are going to react and let it win, or, you can "lift yourself up off the floor", as Switchfoot say in their song, "Dare You To Move." The problem isn't often our choice, but how we react to the problem is 100% our choice.

Listening to Switchfoot, drinking a coffee and reading a book with the company of a soft toy (yes, I'm a grown man who still hugs soft toys) is usually what I do on blood test days because blood tests absolutely freak me out, but today I realized something: I think I just do this as a good way to relax from the pressures of the real world, not just pre-blood tests. It's important for us all, no matter how busy we think we are, to find whatever it is that re-energizes us and take the time to do it. For me, it's listening to Switchfoot and reading a book. For some, it's going for a run, drawing, writing, watching a movie, sleeping. Whatever it is, find the time and do it because if you don't, you won't have the physical or emotional energy to fulfill your entire God-given potential that he has placed inside each and every one of us.

To end, a quote from one of the most inspiring people I have ever known: "Hey, are you surviving or thriving?" - Zoe Johnston :)