Appreciate

Today, on my drive home, I became frustrated as drops of rain began to hit my windshield. 

The last five days have consisted of some of the best weather we have seen in months.  Each day has delivered record high temperatures with bright sunny skies and a gentle breeze.  Some aspects of winter I enjoy but at this point spring is most welcome!

Frustration happens to us all often building in intensity with increasing frequency. I’m trying to improve how I respond to frustrating situations by appreciating those things that I don’t immediately appreciate. As the drops of rain began to fall faster, I began to consider the brighter side.

Sure, when I got home my nephews and I wouldn’t be riding around the neighborhood, but over the last few days I’ve put some amazing miles on my Onewheel. Those miles were all completely fulfilling providing exciting challenges and opportunities to ride with some amazing people in “new to me” places.

What we want and what we need are not always the same thing. Tonight’s rain wasn’t what I wanted. The time to rest and heal wasn’t bad but being frustrated with the circumstances wasn’t constructive at all. What I needed was a better perspective, to discover appreciation for that which was initially disappointing to me.

There are a lot of things that we can’t change but we can adjust the way we think about and approach our world. God invites us to an adjusted perspective. It’s a process that requires discipline but making minor frequent adjustments to the way we think will often result in a much more significant impact over time. A little rain is no big deal but learning to be appreciative during small frustrations can go a long way to improving our approach to everything else.

“Consider a mustard seed. When scattered on the ground, it’s the smallest of all the seeds on the earth; but when it’s planted, it grows and becomes the largest of all vegetable plants. It produces such large branches that the birds in the sky are able to nest in its shade.”” Mark‬ ‭4:31-32‬ ‭CEB