Make it Nice
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Yesterday I was busy plugging along, trying eagerly to finish a writing project I was working on, when I saw it.
A ‘tweet’.
You know, a little status update thingy of 140 characters or less on Twitter.
It was from my friend and North Carolina resident Marybeth Here is what it declared:
Not a cloud in the blue sky. Writing outside with the sun warming me. The iPod playing a private concert. Perfect Sunday afternoon.
A sweet, innocent ‘tweet’ from my sweet, not-so-innocent friend (she and I get ourselves into all sorts of shenanigans, but that’s a post for another day!)
I quickly got in touch with my inner sarcastic side and replied to my friend:
Hey @MarybethWhalen: & I’m trying to write inside on a hail-snowing gray freezing day in MI complete w/ wind & thunder. Shut it already!
That’ll teach her!
Then, still another Southern friend ‘tweeted’ about her 80 degree weather.
Then my own daughter, who too calls NC home, mentioned in her Facebook status that she was driving with her windows down, listening to country music and enjoying the warm weather.
Upon seeing these happy words dance across my laptop screen, my mind immediately migrated to , “Gee….must be nice”
Must be nice….
You must understand, at the time… Well, I was sitting in in my home office, in the middle of Michigan, in the middle of nasty, barely 30 degree weather, a gloomy mix of snow and mini- icy hail, gray skies and thunder!!!
I was not sipping sweet tea.
I was trying to warm up by drinking coffee.
I was not contemplating taking a blanket outside to sit in the sunshine and work.
I was pondering the fact that my son’s homeschool varsity baseball double header will most likely be canceled today.
That would mean that for the third time in a row, ‘opening day’ has been pushed back due to weather.
Must be nice…
How many times do we look at someone else’s life, home, situation, car, handy (or handsome) hubby, publicly-behaved kids, or assumed pants size and declare.
Must be nice….
It is Satan’s oldest trick in the book.
Hello? Anyone else remember a chick named Eve?
She had a gorgeous garden she never had to sprinkle with miracle grow.
Had a hubby who’d never even seen another woman, let alone the airbrushed images of perfection Hollywood cranks out.
No babies yet….so no stretch marks!!!
Nor had she had her heart stretched waiting for that final call to come from the adoption agency.
Nope.
Miss Eve’s life emotionally and physically was a beautiful, blessed breeze.
But still, she wanted the one item she didn’t have.
I think you know the rest of the story.
So yesterday, even though my situation was a minor one, I decided to shift my thinking from “must be nice” to ‘make it nice’.
I can ‘make nice’ the fact that I live in a home with heat, even though I must run the furnace in April.
I must remember that I could be out in the cold due to an earthquake-ravaged home.
I ‘made it nice’ by not looking around at what I didn’t have, but being thankful for what I do.
Did you know it can be a blast to play ping pong with a 16 year old son on a gloomy gray day?
I have a healthy son who has a mean serve and, although I may not get to see him strut his stuff on the ball field today, I can enjoy his laughter as he returns my pitiful serves in our basement game room.
I can make hot cocoa to serve to my kids and their friends who too are trying to hide from April’s wrath.
It makes for a nice afternoon despite the deal I’m dealt.
What about you? Anyone else need to stop muttering, “Must be nice” and instead put their big girl bloomers on and ‘make it nice’ instead?
Maybe we don’t need a different set of circumstances.
Perhaps all we need is a little shift of perspective.
And if you want a ‘hands-on” lovely way to be visually thankful, visit with Ann Voskamp today at www.aholyexperience.com You’ll be grounded and centered on God gracious gifts by doing so.
Grateful Blessings,
