Where does it go?
Excitement!
Where does it go?
Now I'm not talking about just any excitement. Not the kind that, "Oh the new Divergent book just made a movie. Score!" or "We finally get to go on that family vacation we have been dying to go on for years." Don't get me wrong, this kind of excitement is great. It's what sometimes keeps us going from day to day. However, how often do we get to that movie or that vacation and start to complain about things. "They left out so much from the book. (Well of course...it's a movie)" "That state park was lacking in so many ways. We barely even saw any animals."
Sometimes excitement dies.
Is it our age, experience, too high of expectations? Whatever it is that makes our excitement fizzle out, this isn't the kind that i'm talking about. I'm talking about the excitement of a kid. The excitement of a 5 year old buying school supplies for the first day of Kindergarten, or the excitement that a 4 month old baby gets when she sees her dad's face above the crib every morning as he gets ready to sing 'the morning song' to her.
As I was giving my 4 month old daughter Shiloh a bath last night this thought and wonderment of excitement popped into my head. As soon as she got into the water and she saw the washcloth coming her way, she reached for it with wide eyes and arms bouncing around. She knew she was going to suck on that washcloth and she was ecstatic!
A washcloth? That's all it took? No bright colored toy? No complaints afterwards about how the water dried out too quickly or how the texture wasn't her favorite? Yes Shiloh is a small baby yet, and she cannot voice her thoughts or possible complaints, but maybe there be a lesson to be learned here?
Children do not find fault in the world until we put it there for them. We claim to love our jobs, but we come home and complain to our spouses about them. We tell Gramma and Grampa that we love them on the phone and as soon as we hang up, we grumble how they go on and on about this or that. We jump for joy when we receive a brand new lawn mower, and then whine when we have to actually mow the lawn (or is that just me). Where does our excitement go? How come we had it when we were young and now when we get a glimpse of it, we often turn it into something negative?
In the book of Philippians, Paul tells us to do everything without grumbling or disputing. Gosh that's hard isn't it? Sometimes it's hard to be positive, but look what we do to ourselves. Look at the negativity that we shower upon the world when we complain. I guess what I take from Paul, and what I take from my little girl is that excitement doesn't have to die out. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes and be still. Sometimes we just need to see the good in every situation. Sometimes we just need to stop and be thankful and find the excitement in each moment.
I know that my challenge today, this week, and every day is not to constantly find the disappointment in the world, but to find the good. It's hard, but you don't want to look back on your life and say, "Where did it go? Where did my excitement for life run away to?". Wouldn't you rather look back and say, "Yeah. That was a blast."
So have a blast today and find some good in each moment!
Where does it go?
Now I'm not talking about just any excitement. Not the kind that, "Oh the new Divergent book just made a movie. Score!" or "We finally get to go on that family vacation we have been dying to go on for years." Don't get me wrong, this kind of excitement is great. It's what sometimes keeps us going from day to day. However, how often do we get to that movie or that vacation and start to complain about things. "They left out so much from the book. (Well of course...it's a movie)" "That state park was lacking in so many ways. We barely even saw any animals."
Sometimes excitement dies.
Is it our age, experience, too high of expectations? Whatever it is that makes our excitement fizzle out, this isn't the kind that i'm talking about. I'm talking about the excitement of a kid. The excitement of a 5 year old buying school supplies for the first day of Kindergarten, or the excitement that a 4 month old baby gets when she sees her dad's face above the crib every morning as he gets ready to sing 'the morning song' to her.
As I was giving my 4 month old daughter Shiloh a bath last night this thought and wonderment of excitement popped into my head. As soon as she got into the water and she saw the washcloth coming her way, she reached for it with wide eyes and arms bouncing around. She knew she was going to suck on that washcloth and she was ecstatic!
A washcloth? That's all it took? No bright colored toy? No complaints afterwards about how the water dried out too quickly or how the texture wasn't her favorite? Yes Shiloh is a small baby yet, and she cannot voice her thoughts or possible complaints, but maybe there be a lesson to be learned here?
Children do not find fault in the world until we put it there for them. We claim to love our jobs, but we come home and complain to our spouses about them. We tell Gramma and Grampa that we love them on the phone and as soon as we hang up, we grumble how they go on and on about this or that. We jump for joy when we receive a brand new lawn mower, and then whine when we have to actually mow the lawn (or is that just me). Where does our excitement go? How come we had it when we were young and now when we get a glimpse of it, we often turn it into something negative?
In the book of Philippians, Paul tells us to do everything without grumbling or disputing. Gosh that's hard isn't it? Sometimes it's hard to be positive, but look what we do to ourselves. Look at the negativity that we shower upon the world when we complain. I guess what I take from Paul, and what I take from my little girl is that excitement doesn't have to die out. Sometimes we just need to open our eyes and be still. Sometimes we just need to see the good in every situation. Sometimes we just need to stop and be thankful and find the excitement in each moment.
I know that my challenge today, this week, and every day is not to constantly find the disappointment in the world, but to find the good. It's hard, but you don't want to look back on your life and say, "Where did it go? Where did my excitement for life run away to?". Wouldn't you rather look back and say, "Yeah. That was a blast."
So have a blast today and find some good in each moment!
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