Some Days We Crash and Burn

Philippians 4:11,13Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

My daughter started out at the top of the hill on a beautiful snowy day.  She was excited to sled with her sisters.  We had gone as a family to a near by perfect sledding site.  (This site shall remain secret!)  The girls started out at the very top and went right through all the powder to the very bottom.  

Anya, being smaller than the rest, flew off her sleigh and tumbled more than halfway, end over end, and came to rest in a bush covered in snow.  Thankfully, she was not hurt at all and stood up, dusted off the snowsuit and went back to the business of having a great day.

We all have those days when we crash and burn on the hill.  The hill might not be filled with snow, it might not be as soft, or as pretty as the one my daughter tumbled down, but it is a hill nevertheless.  

I have done my fair share of the "crash and burn"  in my life.  I have made mistakes, felt great heartache, been hurt, afraid, lonely and alone.  But my young daughter taught me something this day. 

 

Sometimes we just have to dust ourselves off and get back to the business of having a great day.  

Isn't that so simple?  So, that is my message today.  We get to choose whether or not we stay at the bottom or work our way back to the top.  We choose to dust ourselves off and try a little harder to be a little bit better.  We choose to be happy right now and right here in this moment of our lives.  Whatever happens, we choose.  

"So often we get caught up in the illusion that there is something just beyond our reach that would bring us happiness: a better family situation, a better financial situation, or the end of a challenging trial.The older we get, the more we look back and realize that external circumstances don’t really matter or determine our happiness.We do matter. We determine our happiness.You and I are ultimately in charge of our own happiness.We shouldn’t wait to be happy until we reach some future point, only to discover that happiness was already available—all the time! Life is not meant to be appreciated only in retrospect. “This is the day which the Lord hath made … ,” the Psalmist wrote. “Rejoice and be glad in it".  Dieter F. Uchtdorf