Choose Joy Day 3 -- Silver Lining

"I think our expectations of what we want life to be often overshadow the good things that are already in front of us... and that's when we miss the silver lining. "All God asks of us is to live the best life we can with what we are given."  I know I can't just apply this to my own life... I have to apply it to the people in my life as well. If I am really allowing the people around me to live the best life they can with what they are given, I can't put my own conditions on them. The more I acknowledge that silver lining, the less I notice the gold that's out of reach."  ~Sara Frankl

My mom (Sara's mom...well, mom of 6 of us), always would say that we need to have "an attitude of gratitude." That is what pops into my mind as I think about how this relates to joy. Sometimes the reason we aren't feeling joy is because the gold we wanted didn't come. Yet, if we stop and look at the silver linings that did, we will find the JOY.

In my families life, the gold would've been for dad and Sara to be here on earth with us much longer than what we were given. To have them with us to share and experience life with us today would have been ultimate gold. But that gold was not what God's plan was. So, with an attitude of gratitude, we have found many silver linings. 

We are VERY grateful for the time we did have with them.

We are grateful that we took the time to love each other well and let each other know how much they are loved.

We are grateful that God chose them for us.

We are grateful for a God who loved us so much that He gave us His son, who died on the cross, so that we, dad and Sara, can live forever!

The list goes on and on...so many silver lining blessings that bring JOY back to our lives.

So tell me, what silver linings have blessed you today?

More lessons on choosing joy can be found in the book, Choose Joy: Finding Hope and purpose when life hurts.