My recipe for peace

It doesn't always feel that way though, right? Sometimes it is hard not to focus on all the stuff that is right in front of us that just doesn't look so good. The glass feels half empty. Sometimes really empty.

When life down here looks hopeless, or hard or confusing ... it helps to look at it from another perspective.  I love the analogy of the tapestry. That sometimes, even when we look up, all we see are the messy, tangled and frayed strings hanging down and it doesn't look so good ... you know, the backside of the tapestry. But the other side to that story is that what we don't see, on the other side of all those tangled knots, there is a beautiful tapestry that is each of our lives; a beautiful and perfect story that will someday be fulfilled.  I do believe that, that God is in control ... and that all things will work out in the end. He promises us that (Romans 8:28). To me that is what it means to look up.

(Less expensive than Botox, I'm thinking!)

I think this is also so true ... the more positive you are, the healthier you will be. 

Paul said it in Phillipians 4. "Just Do It," he said. Think positive. Think about the things that are pure and lovely and right. There will always be things that are not. But think on the things that are. He says this right after he tells us not to be anxious about anything, but to instead give our requests to God, through prayer and petition and with thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! The result he says is that we will be given peace. 

And then right after, he tells us that he has learned to be content in every circumstance - whether in need or with plenty, well-fed or hungry. That ability he says, to be content in every circumstance, is not by his power he says ... it is because of Christ who gives him strength. 

Look up. Be Positive. Choose peace!

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