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Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

September 24, 2011

Saturday smiles

I’ve been focusing too much on the negative in my life. Our still-damp basement full of somewhat-salvageable stuff. My husband’s seminary workload. Finances. Demands on me (both real and imagined).

It can’t be healthy. I know this. I’ve been consuming 6 coffee-pot-cups of coffee a day most of the week. (Really, that’s only like 2 mugs of coffee, but when it makes me twitch, I have to wonder …) I’ve been overwhelmed and stressed and sarcastic, even with the kids, who SO don’t catch on to sarcasm.

It occurred to me this morning that the week wasn’t all bad. In fact, it was mostly good. So, with that in mind, I’d like to share with you the things that made me smile this week.

  • Spending $10 at the Farmer’s Market and coming home with 2 butternut squash, 2 acorn squash, 4 cucumbers and maybe 1/4 bushel of apples
  • My almost-2-year-old’s “going to see Daddy” dance (performed on Wednesdays when we meet my husband at the seminary for lunch)
  • Taking an overflowing 18-gallon tote of kids clothes to the new consignment shop in town and having them turn down only 3 pieces of clothing.
  • An unexpected customer service phone call from a Bible study publisher helping to point me in the right direction for study topics for our ladies’ Bible study
  • Leading Tuesday night Bible study with a great bunch of ladies
  • Suave dry shampoo (It’s a life-saver on those no-shower days, which unfortunately are more than I’d care to admit.)
  • Caramel macchiato creamer in my coffee. (I’m currently substituting with Italian sweet cream creamer because I drained the other kind this week.)
  • The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
  • Undeserved grace
  • the Psalms
  • My 3-year-old’s explanation of her Sunday School lesson last week: “That’s about a man who could not walk. Jesus said, ‘Take your wheelchair and go home.’ That’s when he was in Je-wu-sal-um.”

Join me weekly for Saturday smiles and feel free to share yours. I need the regular reminder of the good going on in my life. It’s too easy to focus on the bad.

Till next week.

Filed Under: Saturday smiles Tagged With: count your blessings, focusing on the positive, good things, remembering the good, what makes you smile

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ida Johnson says

    September 24, 2011 at 3:13 pm

    I liked that. We can always look at the negative things and see how God turns them into Positive things.

    Reply
  2. Charlotte Ann Bartelt says

    September 26, 2011 at 1:24 am

    I’m really glad you did this…I’ve been having a hard week and month, heck 2 months so it’s super uplifting to see some positive things (especially about the coolest niece and nephew ever) and makes me think about what I’ve been focusing on too.
    So, Thanks!

    Reply
  3. cindy says

    September 26, 2011 at 7:48 am

    Very nice, Lisa. A good reminder to us all. I often tend to dwell on the negative when there is so much all around me that is good and positive. Love the idea of Saturday smiles.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Smiles in pictures « The Home Front says:
    October 10, 2011 at 8:20 pm

    […] to the late edition of Saturday smiles. It is NOT Saturday, though maybe if you had today off for Columbus Day, it might feel like a […]

    Reply
  2. The reasons I have laugh lines « The Home Front says:
    November 12, 2011 at 9:17 am

    […] smile-worthy events this […]

    Reply
  3. Saturday Smiles: End of the year edition … and news on the blog for 2012 « The Home Front says:
    December 31, 2011 at 11:35 pm

    […] Saturday Smiles — I’ll continue to write about the things that have made me smile that week. In the couple of months since I started this exercise, I feel like I’ve noticed the positive things happening in my life more, and I’ve let the negative parts of the week go a lot more easily. It’s been a good, life promoting addition to my week. […]

    Reply

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Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

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