It's a "Good Morning, Beautiful" day!

I woke up this morning in the best mood, even though it was 6am and I still had a good hour and a half until my alarm was set to go off. I've been feeling pretty crummy the past few days, so when I woke up this morning and my stomach and head weren't hurting, I was overjoyed. I'm pretty sure I literally jumped out of bed, anxious to greet the day. I was in such a good mood that I optimistically packed my sunglasses because I was convinced the sun would reflect my attitude and shine. (unfortunately this wasn't the case, but we'll get to that later) As I danced my way down the streets of Brno to my 8 hour class, I started thinking. (It happens when you have 30 minutes to yourself with nothing else to do) I wondered to myself - what is it about being sick that makes being healthy so wonderful? Why does it take being sick to make us thankful for our good health? Why can't I wake up every morning thankful for my health? I was rather convicted of this. Often times I wake up and my first thought is, "How soon can I go back to bed?" What a way to thank the Creator of Life for mercifully granting me one more breath, one more day, one more opportunity to experience his goodness. I should be overjoyed every morning. But the truth is, I'm not. It's something I plan to work on in life. Yeah, that's right, life. Because let's be honest, it's going to take me a lifetime to learn. But someday, I want to be able to wake up, feeling groggy and sniffly and achy and miserable and say "Good Morning, Beautiful." to my Creator and thank him for another beautiful day of a beautiful life.

I realized that because I woke up in such a great mood, my day was completely altered.
Because I was fixated on my God from the moment I entered consciousness, my attitude towards life was different.

Let me explain..

Today was one of those days that could've gone horribly wrong. For starters, I had to spend 8 hours learning the complexities of the English language. Brutal. On my way to class, I nearly was mauled to death by a vicious dog. I was literally dancing along the street (I had my ipod on) and this big black dog was ahead of me, being restrained by its owner from playfully greeting a dog across the street. In my disregard for anything else but my thoughts and my music, I accidentally stepped on his toe. He freaked out a little, his owner glared at me, and I fumbled an apology and went on my merry way. Well, I guess the owner wanted to scare me a bit, because she scurried by me and let her dog bark and snarl and growl and foam at the mouth as it tried its best to remove the muzzle over its snout (most dogs here are required to wear them, thankfully for me!) and chew straight through to my femur. It was pretty terrifying and could easily have put me in a bad mood. But all I could do was laugh. After class, I had about 30 minutes before I was scheduled to meet a few friends so we could go birthday shopping for another friend. The plan when I left my room this morning was to walk around outside in the beautiful sunshine with my sunglasses on and maybe even buy some fresh fruit from the outdoor market. Too bad. The moment I stepped outside and started to get my sunglasses out, the rain started to pour. In the 30 minutes I was waiting, the weather went from rain to sleet to hail and back to rain again. I wore my sunglasses anyways. And while I was waiting, I danced to some "Let the rain fall down" and ate gelato, despite the freezing temperature. It was so fun.

Today really made me realize the effect my attitude has on the quality of my life. It really is amazing how the decision to be joyful regardless of circumstances can radically change everything.

"This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!"

I hope all of you, whom I love SO much, can find joy in any circumstance. I know that most of you have much bigger, harder circumstances than the things I faced today, but God is bigger than it all. As is his joy. Life really is so much more fun when you can experience the joy that comes from worshiping our creator. Seriously. Try it. :)





There's still beauty to be found. :)