Smile for Today is Yours!

The passing of the year should not bring tears. Instead it should bring joy, that you have experienced more photo images of life. Yes, you have been given more chances to see God’s creation, meet more people and see different faces of our Creator. You are indeed blessed.

With each day that passes, we are indeed a bit wiser. We are given choices, choices to be happy, sad, reflective, educated, argumentative, open-minded, and the whole array of emotions.  Pity the fool who wakes up and goes to the mirror and always sees the exact same reflection, no change whatsoever. Grateful is the person who sees change, another wrinkle, a smile looking back, a worrisome brow, a twinkle; for they know change is a sign of living. 

Right inside my bathroom, first thing you see when you walk in the door and right outside the shower is the line “Begin each day with a smile.” It is not in a small font, not a medium, but a huge typeface.  That is by design.   I need and want it to be emblazoned in my mind. It is imperative for those who battle depression to not take today for granted, not one minute of it. This moment, this hour, this day is blessed. I want to feel good every day when I get ready to face the world as we all should. 

Last year,  the past 365 days were graced with Kodak images, memories we get to hold on to forever.  And yet today, we are still here to experience all that God has in store for us. We have a debt to pay, in a sense, to God.  He sacrificed, his

only son for us. We owe it to Him to make the most of our time on earth. Jesus taught us the most pure way to live, the righteous way. He knew we would stumble and fall, we would certainly sin,  and fall from grace.  But we were taught we could ask for forgiveness and be granted it, that easily. We were instructed to ask those who trespassed against us to pray for those individuals. Jesus said to forgive others,  essentially let  bygones be bygones so as not to develop a hardness. Without forgivness, a wall is constructed that interferes with your relationship with God and others.  

Live your life with a free heart, free from the bondage of hate, free  from worrying about a tomorrow challenges that might never come. Know that today is part of God’s plan for you, and  are you are meant to savor it.   If you are down, know you are not alone. Many people suffer from illness, loss, depression, and other issues.  

Being prayerful and introspective may help you find one small blessing in your mountain of sadness, even if it is the ability to produce one small tear.  That tear shows you have life, emotion, feelings and the freedom to express it.  So many live in this world with an inability to identify their emotions or feel anything. You are not one of them, to feel is to be human and to be given the gift of life, praise that gift.

As I look back on 2015, I see a woman that has experienced many highs and many lows. I have lost some dear people along the way also that I miss. I know that I am called to change and make not New Year’s Resolutions but permanent changes that will better me. 

Part of my life’s mission has been to continually improve and be closer to what God’s image is for me as a Christian woman. Like many of my friends, I have struggled in determining and defining what that is, and after much contemplation or as my blog is called reflection, it has became much clearer, the picture. Some of those changes entail letting go, be it people, relationships, and ideals I once held, and even items that I once thought were so important.  Passage of the years necessitates I evolve too. 

Over years most of us grow wiser and  our ideology does and should change.  Our nakedness we entered the world in becomes closer to what we return too. We are faced with the reality we leave and return to heaven with what we came here with, God’s kingdom.  So, let your yesterdays be a beautiful memory.   Let the hardships fall off your shoulders and serve as  lessons upon which to grow from. Know that those that reject you may be, in part, be rejecting a part of themselves and know God loves you more. Right the wrongs and move forward. Help others grow just as surely as you do.  And hug yourself as you embrace each day of the New Year! May God help you see fit to begin each day with a smile!