inspiration23

There is something to be said about loud music. I am listening to Nickleback and Three Doors Down on repeat mode. The songs: Rockstar and It’s not my time .

Yes, it is helping as I am not focused on what happened yesterday or what happened to day or what might happen in the future. My mind is in the music. In an earlier post, I talked about picking up other peoples’ garbage. Well, guess what I did today ? I let someone else’s acidic words affect most of my day and this message came in an email, of all places. I am sure this person is sitting at home, happily knowing that my day was ruined because of it. I can see them sitting there with a big satisfied smile on their lips.

“Yeah, right.” I didn’t know this person and they don’t know me, so why did I waste my day feeling bad about what they said? I let them steal my joy and that was stupid of me. To make it worse, it wasn’t just my joy that was affected, but my kids as well.

Yesterday I met a lovely lady. She told me that she has MS. I told her I was sorry to hear that, but she smiled and pulled me closer. She repeated her statement, but she furthered it by telling me this . . . “BUT it doesn’t have me.” She went on to say that many people who have this disease give up, but she wasn’t going to. She has such a wonderful outlook and bright personality. I told her she was a beautiful person, and of course she told me “No.” I repeated it to her and once again she replied that she wasn’t. I furthered it by telling her that she was beautiful on the inside. Then she asked me, “How do you know?” Very simply, I told her that I knew because of her outlook and she had joy that shined bright.

Isn’t that where we’re supposed to look at each other anyway? Not at the way life has marked us or our bodies, but how we are in the spirit.

What profound words of this young woman, when she could have easily been bitter at the world, or at God. As I listened to her, I discovered that I could learn from her. Where I am right now can be a springboard to a blessing, unless I allow circumstances to pull me down. (which is exactly what I did today.)

I have found this nursing home to be a very special place. Other then my mother, I have only met one other lady who bluntly told us to leave. The last time we were visiting, this same bad tempered lady was a very sweet lady in the Alzheimer’s section, but she must have been having a bad day. Otherwise, as you pass by the older people, they smile, nod and say hello. A few will grab your hand and want to visit. They even do this with my kids and my kids enjoy the conversation. This has been a surprise to me, as I thought maybe my kids might be afraid, or unwilling to spend time listening to them. The other nursing homes mom was in didn’t have people like this. They sort of walked around like zombies. One or two might say hello, but most did not.