Last week I mentioned that I had just returned from a cruise to the Bahamas (as in, I wrote the blog post while waiting to get off the ship), it was that recent. I even mentioned how we are quick to show our highlights, and rarely ever mention our ‘lowlights’.
Read here if you missed it: http://edx.kwi.mybluehost.me/what-will-you-see/
The thought has still been on my heart. You see, even while away, and having a good week, a lot still weighed on my mind. Somehow, I had managed to mentally carry two work related items with me that was frustrating me and I had very little control over. By the way, in the long run, these won’t have a big impact, but at that point, they felt huge and frustrating.
As my friend checked on me a few days later with an ‘how are you doing?’, which I knew wasn’t just a casual ‘hi’, I thought about my response and reamed off the list of things I was disappointed in at that moment.
My list was long.
Even after my vacation week, I just felt like there were so many things, outside of my control, that weren’t happening the way they were supposed to be happening.
I even started my statement to my friend ‘a lot of it isn’t a no, it’s just a not yet’.
So, my question to you: do we only show the highlight of our lives, while never sharing that there are disappointing moments in between?
Sadly, this is causing a lot of mental health issues because we start wondering why can’t our lives and homes look like ‘Ms Jones’.. not realizing that Ms Jones might be having some of the same disappointments we have (or worse) – just no one is talking about it.
By the way, one of my ‘not yets’ turned into a ‘yes’ a few hours after I reamed off my list to my friend.
A podcast recording I had done, had been published by a large financial services firm.
So, I’ll ask my question again from last week: what will you choose to see?
I pray for both of us, that we will choose to see that life is filled with both joys and disappointments, and that we will proceed accordingly.
Ps. Please pray for my church family as one of our members lost their eldest daughter.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that you show us that life has both highlights and lowlights, and lowlights show us how to appreciate the highlights. Help us to navigate the lowlights better, understanding that no matter how long it seems to last, it will come to an end, and that we can choose the attitude with which we show up.