To Life!

I just learned that a friend of mine lost his younger brother a week ago.  I don't know how he died or the circumstances surrounding it.  As I sat thinking about them I remembered my friend who is expecting again.  Then I started to think about my life - where I am, where I am headed.  There is no road paved, just the rough trail that has hundreds of paths leading off in as many directions.  Our lives all start in the same place, beginning with our mother's arms - even if ever so briefly - and ending in our Father's arms for eternity.  The journey in between is so special and such a blessing, but we lose that sometimes.

Life can be stressful, lonely, aggrivating, overwhelming....and it is so easy to get caught up in that cycle.  I remember reading a study about the brain and the chemicals that are released based upon our thoughts.  When our thoughts are negative the brain secretes chemicals found in the noradrenaline family - those that put us on the defensive, raise blood pressure, put us in fight or flight, and allow that negative thought pattern to progress.  In order to change from thinking negatively to positively, the brain has to stop secretion of those chemicals and start secreting those found in the serotonin family.  Once serotonin is started, it takes work to stop and change again.  

The short version of what I am trying to say is this:  When a person is thinking in one direction, it takes effort to stop, turn, and think in another direction.  But once you get going in the direction you want, it is easier to keep on going.

So, life comes to us as it does everyone.  We get our fair share of sorrows and trials with the joys and blessings.  The question is, can you really say you experience your trials and sorrows with joy and view them as blessings?  Once we move from the point of looking inward and being concerned about how this situation or that situation affects me individually, we see just how broad and beautiful life is.  There is glory and joy in each moment of life - from the deep breathing of an infant sleeping, to the shallow breath of one about to depart this earth.  Life is being lived all around us.  How much are you taking in?