Hi friends!
It’s me, Mia, again! So, this past week, I was assigned to write a “personal essay” in English class. One problem- I hate writing about myself. I was completely at loss for a topic, until last Sunday night.
Last Sunday night, a couple of my friends were sitting around talking like we always do, and someone brought up the American flag. They were talking about an art teacher at their school who had her students walk over the flag- walk over the American flag- for an art project. And that struck me as seriously sad. I spent the rest of Sunday night with the depressed realization that some Americans just aren’t patriotic anymore. That really bothered me. If it doesn’t bother you, I won’t judge, but… I also have no understanding of you at all.
But I had my essay topic. The following Monday, I wrote my essay, but while I was proof-reading it, I realized how pessimistic it sounded. I ranted about the disrespect Americans have for the flag and about patriotism (that’s definitely my soapbox right there, in case you haven’t noticed) and about national pride and about soldiers’ sacrifices. And… I ranted about a lot of things.
Ranting is good- occasionally. It’s nice to get it all out (boy, am I ever thankful for that pillow. It’s been screamed at and cried into and punched so much in its lifetime…), and from time to time, sisters, trust me- that’s just what you need to do. Let it all out.
But isn’t it really easy to adopt the “ranting approach”? You know what I’m talking about- the feeling that you have to tell the world just how wrong something is. And most of the time, you’re completely right- the world is very, very wrong. A lot.
But ladies- stop to think for a moment. Things can’t really be all that bad, can they? I know sometimes it just feels like the world is caving in on you- believe me, I’ve been there too- but in reality… We all keep breathing. We all get up in the morning. We all eat meals from time to time (I’ll be honest with you- sometimes I skip breakfast. And although I’m probably pretty likely to turn into the Loch Ness monster from lack of food, it’s not the end of the world. We breakfast-skippers just get a bad rap sometimes…). We all (hopefully) go to sleep. And then we get up and do it all again. You know how we can do that?
The grace of God. God is awesome, you know? He created this thing called encouragement. Times can get hard- I understand that, friends. But that’s what your Christian sisters are here for! Encouragement is in this season (and every other season too, for the record)! And let me tell you, encouragement makes the world go round. I’d be a messy pile of depressed without encouragement, and I’m willing to bet at least a few of you feel the same way. But we don’t have to be a messy pile of depressed. We’re here for one another! Let’s start making that known.
So what’s holding us back? Spread the love! And the happiness and the smiles! Life is good.
Just keep smiling,
Mia
No comments:
Post a Comment