Matt and I were driving in the country this week and passed a little church with a sign out front that said, “Trouble in this life is a guarantee, but misery is optional.”
The saying has stuck with me, and I’ve been reflecting on the difference between trouble and misery. It can be very easy for me to have a bad attitude, and this has caused me to be miserable in troubled times and also in not troubled times! I’m working to change that though, and a big step is remembering that most times I am miserable it is because of a perspective I’ve chosen to embrace (and can change!). Ann Voskamp’s book One Thousand Gifts was very inspiring to me in that regard, and the value of thankfulness still resonates with me.
This is just one of many ideas rolling around in my mind today after a great retreat with other pastors from our denomination. It was a blessing to have time away in a beautiful setting, to have a schedule with space for rest, sessions that were very encouraging, and no dishes to wash for four days! My introvert brain needs more time to process, but bits and pieces will most likely make their way onto the blog over the next little while. In the meantime, I will do my best to avoid misery (and hopefully trouble!) and hope you do the same.