"Change your thoughts and you change your world."

                                      --Norman Vincent Peale.

I did not want to get out of bed this morning.  I hit "snooze" on my alarm clock at least a dozen times before I could get enough energy going to stagger out of bed and go to the bathroom.  I had to get up.  

Sky had to go to work and the dog needed to go outside.  If I crawled back into bed, Sky would get in trouble at work and I would have a mess on the floor from my dog.   Not the best of motivation but it worked as a struggled to get dressed.

It was foggy and dingy and awful outside.  I knew I had to change my attitude, but the whole world looked depressing.  I thought of a challenge.  If I could find any sign of happiness or good or hope, then I would gather up all my strength and work to make it a good day.  

At first, all I could see was drivers who like me seemed grumpy, but slowly and gradually I noticed other things and my morning began to turn around.

One driver I looked at, actually smiled at me.  I smiled back and then realized this simple act made me feel a little better.  Another driver stopped to let a car merge into traffic and that driver waved thank you.  Then I realized that I had not heard one horn honk since leaving the house.  That was very unusual for the morning commute.  For some reason tolerance seemed to be in the air.  These were good signs but not really enough to convince me not to go back to bed after taking care of my daughter and dog.

I stopped to pick up something at the store.  When I turned the engine off, I heard music blaring from another parked car.  I saw young man dancing in the parking lot with a small child in a grocery cart smiling ear from ear.  I couldn't keep my eyes off them.  The song ended and a young woman came out of the store, laughed, picked up the child, and she and the young man and child got into the car and left the lot. I couldn't believe what I had just seen but I noticed the heaviness I had felt in my neck and shoulders was going away.  I felt lighter and more awake.

Then the most awesome thing happened about three blocks from my house.  The street that I normally take home was closed due to some construction so I turned down a residential street I normally don't use.  On the sidewalk I noticed a man, around sixty, with an armful of cut flowers--all red, smiling, with a spring in his step walking with what seemed to be a definite destination in mind.  He emanated sheer joy.

This I could not ignore.  I caught a whiff of his delight and the doom and gloom of my day disappeared.  My mind imagined a lady somewhere who was going to get the surprise of her life.

And with that thought, I realized that I felt as though this happy man had given the flowers to me.

Needless to say, I don't want to crawl back into bed.  I am home and I want to dance and share flowers. I want to thank the one driver for her smile, the other driver for his grateful thank you, and all the drivers who were tolerate and kind this morning.  God created a world that is inherently good, but you may have to look for it.  

I know God was listening this morning when I asked to be shown a reason to be happy.  He didn't have to do anything but open my eyes and let His world take care of the rest.

Thank you God for the good in this world and the eyes you gave me to see it.  Amen