School Days

It is official. This morning we got the kids up, put on the new clothes, new shoes, fixed the hair, shouldered the pack packs, took pictures and headed off to school. I now have a sixth grader, fourth grader and kindergartner. The first day of school is always a little mixed. It is a mix of excitement about the new year beginning and sadness about summer being over. It is a mix of joy for the kids getting to see their old friends and nervousness about the new unknowns. It is a mix for the parents as well. A mix of pride and joy for your kids growing up and stepping out and sadness because they are not your little babies anymore (don't tell my kids, but they will always be my babies). It is a mix of emotions. A mix of feelings. A mix of good and bad. Joy and sorrow.

Life is like this isn't it? Life is a mix.

What do you focus on? The good or the bad? The joy or the sorrow? The fear or the hope? What is no longer or what is to come? It is always mixed up together and we get to choose what we focus on. What will you choose today?

I am choosing to see the joy of the kids going back to school. I am choosing to enjoy them today and to admire their growth rather than wish they were young again. I am choosing good over bad. I am choosing to look for the good even when I am surrounded by bad. It is my choice.

Today, I choose love.

Love today.

In Christ's love and mine,
Doug