A Beautiful Thought

We have had a lot of terrible weather lately, but today I was able to go for a walk in the warm sun with my little daughter. We took our time, listening to the various birds singing and just soaked up the beautiful day. It was fantasitc for my spirit. My daughter collected sticks and leaves on the path and talked, in her cute two year old way, about trees, cars and people we passed. Some days in winter I find it hard just to get out of bed. The days seem to drag and I find myself thinking  negative thoughts and feeling tired. I have found this winter particulary hard, as I slowly try to recover from a visit to the hospital and serious illness earlier this year. Keeping my mood up has been a real battle. Even with a bubbly sweet baby it can be easy to focus on how hard being unwell has been and how much I can't do. It's not easy to feel happy when you are too sick to play with your child or even enjoy a family dinner. From past experience though I knew keeping positive was important. I knew I couldn't control my health but I can control what I think about. When I was sixteen I travelled with a church group to Indonesia, and had the priviledge of meeting a wonderful elderly lady who inspires me to this day. She was too unwell to leave her house, but the shocking thing was her house was no more than a wardrobe sized room, barely fitting a tiny bed and cooking area. It was cut into the wall of a large stone house with views of a narrow alleyway closely running alongside another wall.  I only met her for a few minutes but I will never forget the experience. This bubbly, vibrant woman chatted to me through a translator and told me how much joy she felt that she could spend her whole day focused on pray and praising Jesus name. Happiness poured from her and I left her with a smile on my face too! She understood something that I think I am only starting to fully grasp; God's promise that this is not all there is. If we know Jesus as our saviour, then we have an eternity to enjoy with beautiful, whole, healthy bodies, with our loving father in heaven.

While we are here on earth it can be a struggle at times, but we can have hope, working to focus our minds on good things and praising God through the tough times.

?Rejoice in the Lord always......Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally...whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things.?

                                                                                                            Philippians 4:4-8