What Do You Choose?

The rain today matches the mood of most of the family.

Or is it their moods match the rain? I don't really know. What I do know is that dark clouds hover over the house like a potential downpour.

 

Tongues lash like sparks of lightning, and tears fall like the rain outside my window.

 

Me? I feel tossed like a leaf in the storm's wind. Flitting here and there, but not really making an impact anywhere I go and then another crisis arises and the draft floats me over there.

 

The rain, as gloomy as it may seem, pounds blessings into the earth. One drop at a time, the parched ground gets seeped in life giving water.

 

As eager as I am to share the blessings of the day, it seems to fall on deaf ears as the din of life overpower the joyful words I'm trying to give. There is so much negativity. So many complaints. So much anger. Why? There is so much to be thankful for. So much to rejoice over. But there is nothing but complaints. Have I really raised my kids to be so self centered? It's sobering. They can't look past their own momentary discomfort to see the joy that someone else is experiencing. The bad attitudes pour over me and I feel like I'm drowning in them.

 

Joy. Where does it come from? Because it's not abiding here. Joy has to be a CHOICE. Choose joy, choose love, choose blessings, even when the world (the household) is choosing something else. It's not the easy choice. It's easier to fall in the pit of despair with everyone else and wallow in the gloom that surrounds. It's more difficult to throw down a rope of joy and offer a way out. Showing them that a positive attitude brings about more rainbows than rain clouds.  

 

Not everyday is going to have a silver lining. Some days are going to be rainier and stormier than others. It's in those times, when a glimmer of light is hard to find, that we have to choose to be the light.

 

We have to choose joy. 

 

CHOOSE. Joy. Today. Everyday.