Whenever I ask someone “How is life?” I enjoy the answer, “I cannot complain.” I enjoy it, because it is patently untrue. There is more than ample opportunity and reason to complain. That you do not complain is an active choice.
What helps with that active choice not to complain is a preference to look at the things for which we can be thankful.
Even this evening as I returned home from work, there was a huge list of things to point out about what I loved about life. I opened the front door and my youngest daughter all of two years old rushed to the stairs to say hello to her Dad. That is just wonderful. She was soon joined by her two older sisters who hugged Dad before asking if he had something for them.
These things I love about life – the sheer love-filled element of human interaction with those who may indeed want something from me, but actually the big thing they want is my attention and the continued compassion and care towards them. This is fair enough. This is something I enjoy doing.
Whether it’s that interaction that I love loads, or the next one, there is so much to love about life.
Having endured likewise a strenuous and laborious day, my wife enjoys the company of her husband. She enjoys being able to relate how her day was, and hear how mine was. She likes the TLC that she gets, and to be honest it’s a pleasure and privilege serving her in that way. I love it. I love the thought that the acts will bring great relief and soothe the physical exertions of the day for my beloved wife and best friend.
There is the banter I’ll have with some friends and siblings over texts. This evening my football team lost a game, which in a previous time of life would have left me distraught. Now, though, it’s a platform for merciless ribbing that I expect, but that very banter and engagement is something I love immensely. The human interest, the time my friends take to communicate. It is something I love a lot.
In all of that there runs the theme of what I love being about fulfilling and engaging human interaction, which I know is underpinned by the loving God who invests all relationships with that love and life that makes them so engaging whether it’s laughing with my children, being ribbed by friends or serving my wife.
I love it.
I get the impression that the family life in Christ is an extension of that. I love that as well, because it’s not dependent on wealth or material goods. It is far more dependent on the unsearchable riches of Christ.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to things I love about life, but those interactions are reason enough for me to blog in thanksgiving to God for making these things to happen and give me reasons to love living.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 