Unhappy?

A friend of mine took his 5-year-old little girl to Disney World. It was a stretch of trip financially for them, but they went all out. They stayed at a Disney resort. They ate meals in the park. They bought t-shirts and souvenirs.

It was a week to mark all weeks by. Their daughter woke up every morning excited to go and fell asleep in the park every night exhausted from having so much fun.

They were leaving the amusement park on the last night of their vacation. As they started through the exit gate for the last time she started sobbing almost uncontrollably. They took the ice cream out of her hand, set her light up sword aside and took her Mickey ears off as they picked her up and asked her what hurt or what was wrong.

She was so upset, she could barely get the words out…’but I didn’t get a balloon!’

Huh????? All the fun that she had and all the gifts that she got, and the lack of a balloon destroyed her happiness. We dismiss it because she was little. Little kids act like that sometimes.

But do we act like that sometimes too at 25, 35, 45, 55, 65…? The correct answer is yes. Bummer, but true.

It’s the enemies job to keep us consistently dis-satisfied. To magnify the opportunity for unhappiness – The little bit we didn’t get, instead of what we did get. What body part does hurt, instead of all the body parts that don’t. The one friend that’s giving us grief, instead of the many friends that love us.

All an attempt to separate us from God. Like Eve with the apple.
Her life was a dream. No sin, no sickness, no unhappiness, no fights – and yet the enemy sat there an enticed her with the only thing she didn’t have. The knowledge of good and evil – illness, hurt, danger, war….

He used the ONLY thing she didn’t have to separate her from God.

How do we keep that from happening in our life?
By purposefully deciding, setting time apart to give ourselves an attitude adjustment. A thankfulness adjustment.

We adjust ourselves by intentionally recalling, remembering and reciting the good. By not dwelling on the things that are missing and praising, talking about, thinking about and appreciating the abundance of things in life that are great and we are sp used to them been great, we just overlook them and assume they ‘should be’ that way.

So don’t be like Eve and comment what’s wrong in life right now. Let’s start being thankful together and list AT LEAST one thing you’re thankful for RIGHT NOW that you might not even notice anymore because it has been good for so long.