Sometimes, when you're an adult, life hands you a big hot pie filled with poop and all you can do is simply say, "hey, at least its pie."
That's what happens sometimes.
Lately, though, I've got nothing to complain about. Yeah, I'm sure if I looked for things, I could find things to make me upset, but the fact is that if all you do is look for negative stuff to be unhappy about, you'll never have any kind of happiness.
A man far greater than myself once wrote, "In everything give thanks" (The Apostle Paul, in a letter to the church of Thessalonica, around 52 AD). In everything. That means that even when life gets us down, we need to find something to be thankful for. He finished that line with "for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." So, to me, this means God doesn't want us looking for things to be miserable about, but to find things to be thankful for.
And that's wonderful in theory, but in practice its sometimes much harder.
We've had a few things come up lately that are stressful, but not beatable. Life's like that. One minute you're up and the next you're down just as much as you were up. The thing that gets you through it is when you have something to look forward to, something to be thankful for.
In college, when the North Dakota weather would get me down in February, I'd look forward to a movie that would be coming out in the next few months. It was my light at the end of the tunnel knowing that the next Lord of the Rings or Marvel movie was going to be out in just a couple of months. I know that may sound silly, but I was in college and had little else that made me excited.
Now days, I have something else to look forward to. Some light at the end of the tunnel of every day.
Being a dad.
If there's nothing else to be thankful for, I have my family. That may sound lame to some people, but it really does help me get through some rough patches. Of course, there are days where our two year old decides she wants to personify the "terrible twos" and days where my wife gets on my nerves. That happens when you live with people. I'm positive I'm not always the most pleasant person in the house. Just ask the dog.
The fact is, I'm thankful for them. Even though my wife and I may not see eye to eye, and diapers smell like poop pies, I'm glad.
Because hey, its pie.
