The Secret of Life

Ok, I'll admit it. I'm grumpy. I haven't been feeling good, and things could definitely be less complicated in my life right now. I don't want to complain. That isn't really fun, is it? I mean, do you really want to come here and read some random blog where some crazy lady just complains about all the messed up stuff in her life? No? No.

Let's try this:

What a great song. It always makes me happy. It reminds me of the basics. I sing it with my husband in the car as we drive through the canyons, and I remember the simplicity of life and love and forget all the bad stuff.

And a friend shared this with me tonight on Facebook:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.” - Jenkin Lloyd Jones

I have to say, I really, really love this quote right now. I'm mostly just overwhelmed by it.

I don't think I can add much to that. It is perfect in and of itself. It describes exactly how I've been feeling lately.

Oh, another friend shared this on Facebook today, and it is perfect too:

I don't want to say anything here that will diminish this lovely quote. I certainly can't add to it. I can't add to either of the perfect quotes I've used here tonight. I don't know that I've ever come across two quotes that more ideally express my heart's true sentiment in my life. I just love them.

I want so much to help. What I mean to say is that, in my life, I have lived through some hard things, and I have the feeling that the Lord isn't done with me. I believe that his purpose in putting me through those things is that I should share my experience with others, so that I might ease their burden. When I think of my burdens this way it makes my difficult times not-so-difficult. I don't mind it so much, you see? I guess that's why I love this last quote so much. I guess I wouldn't mind so much about all the hard stuff if I could think that one day I might be the slightest bit "beautiful" to the Lord. I'm not particularly graceful. I've always known that. I'm loud and a big klutz. I'm not athletic and I can't dance. My mother-in-law doesn't love me, even though I've made her son very happy through the years. But the thought that I might somehow earn the label "beautiful" . . . that magical and so lofty thing which has seemed so beyond my reach forever . . . "beautiful" . . . well, that would be just lovely, really.