The last three days we have been answering the question: “What is abundant life NOT?” This is our current list:
- Abundant Life is NOT equal to material wealth.
- Abundant Life is NOT equal to the approval of man.
- Abundant Life is NOT a picture-perfect life.
Today I want to add one more to the list.
- Abundant Life is NOT found when everything is going just as we want it to—because life on this earth will never be exactly just the way we want it.
I will confess to you that rarely do I have perfect days—in fact, rarely do I have days that are even close to perfect. Our close friends have developed a new adjective. That adjective is the word, “Berry”. When something goes hysterically wrong, that is VERY BERRY.
For example, when I work so hard to get everyone ready to go somewhere, and we finally get off, one of the kids will inevitably forget something very important—like their shoes. And it is possible that we are able to drum up “shoes” for said child in the form of flippers or roller skates, which we find in the piles of mess in the back… That is VERY BERRY.
Or when I somehow miss the memo that the baseball team was wearing white pants instead of the gray ones, and my kid is THAT KID who shows up in gray…that is VERY BERRY.
Or when you drop your child off for the first day of Junior High and trash flies out the door when they get out, and they have to make their “debut” to Junior High by chasing down the hamburger wrapper…that is VERY BERRY.
You get my point, I am sure. So, here’s the deal. We all have VERY BERRY moments no matter how hard we try. Things will not go well for us all the time. Our plans are usually just that—plans. But that does not mean that our thwarted plans thwart our abundant life. In fact, if we can force ourselves to have a decent attitude about it, our thwarted plans can BE the abundant life. And at least we will have something to laugh about.
So today, my Friends, I hope you laugh. I hope you find something so funny to laugh about that tears stream down your cheeks and your belly aches. I love a laugh like that. Laughter and joy is what I wish for you this day. For those are indeed aspects of abundant life.
Praying for you!
Sara
