The list from the past few days looks like this ---
My Savior
My Wife
My kids
God’ grace
My wife’s love for me
The ability to pray
The celebration of a professional accomplishment
A note from a student
A text message from both my daughters in one day!
TEAM 413 stories
Special pictures that bring to mind wonderful memories
No traffic on the way to work
I felt good today
The beach – water, sunsets, white sand
Friends without condition
Phone call from those who care
Kiki reminding me of her love for me
My students
It was much harder than I thought because I could always write God, family, and friends and be done! Yet if I stop
and look for the little things in life, the big things mean even more! When sunsets, the smell of the ocean, running with
no pain, and a cobalt blue sky make my list --- Well, I’ve started understanding that I need to pay attention to the
blessings I’m given each day. When we look at the BIG picture, it is just too much for us to take in. But, when we break
it down into “snapshot” moments of the photo album of life, happiness is much easier to see and feel. We have a tendency
to remember only the things that trouble us, that we worry about, that we dwell on, that we consider bad. When we look
for those happy snapshot moments we don’t even remember many of the bad things in life. Look at a real photo album
sometime --- really study the pictures. Do you see pictures of the bad things in life? NOPE! We save the good time photos.
Do we only take pictures of the BIG stuff? NOPE! We take snapshots of the little things in life like silly faces, pillow fights,
sunsets, boat rides, big smiles, holiday celebrations, and natural beauty. We cherish the SMALL things in life. As runners,
very few of us have pictures of a marathon full of people after we compete in a race. We have pictures of us running,
celebrating with friends, victories won, and goals attained. We are a “snapshot” in that BIG canvas event.
For several years I’ve written that when our life canvas is erased and made clean, God can work and create a
masterpiece in our lives. Maybe He creates that masterpiece with a bunch of those happy snapshot moments like
salvation, family smiles, friend moments, seed planting opportunities, running under His grace! Just before you lay
down tonight write down three things that you are thankful for on this day. Keep up with it. Be honest. You’ll be
surprised at the “smilin’ snapshot” moments you have in your life. Then, one day start looking through all of your
pictures that you have stashed away in shoe boxes, in albums, or on your computer. You’ll see snapshot
moments in your life that God has allowed you to have in order to create the masterpiece that He calls YOU!
TM
