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Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Archives for September 24, 2011

Saturday smiles

September 24, 2011

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

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Photo by Rachel Lynn Photography

Welcome

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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