Often times in life we are faced with circumstances that steal our smiles.
This past week, I was faced with some difficult situations in work and home that had my smile fading. I found myself sitting at my desk, feeling very detached from reality. Very out of it. I'm usually a very cheerful person so experiencing an emotion out of my usual personality makes me squirm in my own skin.
But I'm human. It qualifies me even more to be a Christian. We often tell ourselves we shouldn't be down or angry or frustrated or even tired because Christ is our strength. While I agree Christ is our strength in times of darkness, we can't be ashamed of our feelings and neglect them either. Just because we are Christians doesn't mean we aren't allowed to feel....To be discouraged sometimes or upset over injustice. The difference is knowing that in all your feeling, you shouldn't be hurting yourself or the people around you.
It's easy to fall into that place of coming down hard on yourself. When the world feels likes it's crumbling, it's easy to feel like you should crumble to. Don't stay in that place. You need to remind yourself that Christ crumbled so you can be rebuilt. Made into a new creature. So that even when you are down, He will help you build yourself back up.
I had to remind myself of that when I got the gift you see in the picture above. God created me as a masterpiece to be beautiful in all circumstances. His joy can only be my strength when I allow myself to realize that God has a plan. Life doesn't bring favorable results all the time but even in these times a smile can make that moment more beautiful.
The cup was a nice gift I got from a pleasant lady who comes by work ever so often to visit. It meant the world to me when I read it. I told myself, I need to smile again because life is more than the problems I face. There are things that I can find everyday, worth smiling for. When you smile, others can't help but smile as well and that may be the smile that makes their day.
It was as though God placed it within our being, deep inside our human code, to process a stranger's smile and output the same. Why should I break the loop?
So today's.......No......This year's challenge is to smile. Find things in each day to smile for.
I recently started writing down the good things that happened in my day and I plan to re-read it at the end of each month. I catch myself smiling more and more as I do. Try it and Smile!
~Celine Elizabeth~