100th Post!!!

In honor of my 100th post, I was reflecting on various things... I love lists! It is a simple, but fun act to list out something - anything. People to write notes to. Things to do. Groceries to purchase. Favorite movies of all time. I was thinking about lists and I remembered one of my favorite books ever. I found it in a bookstore when I was in late Jr. High or early High School. It is entitled "14,000 things to be happy about". The entire book is one giant list. No sentences. Just phrases. Or words. Not many books have survived from my childhood, since I've moved so many times! However, that book remains on my bookshelf to this day.

After pondering this post idea, I pulled it from the shelf and was inspired. I was planning to write my own list of 100 things I am happy about (for my 100th post)... I got to about #15 and then I had a thought. I wonder if this book is still in print. I wonder if I'm the only person in the world that thought this list was the coolest book ever.

So, I googled it. Amazingly, not only does the book still exist, but it was reprinted in 2007 and there is an entire website devoted to that book and the other works of the author. The author tends to go a little new-age in a few areas, but overall I feel that this book/list is a wonderful reminder that we need to be grateful for the little things around us. If we focused our time and energy on all of the positive things around us, we would all be much happier people. The greatest part is that God is good, so nearly anything we find that makes us happy comes from Him. In reality, a book about 14,000 things to be happy about is a tribute to a wonderful God. Whether the author intended it as such or not.

I'm sure that I could sit here and come up with a list of 100+ things to be happy about, but instead, I'd like to challenge each of you to come up with 100 of your own. Maybe someday, I'll post my list (or the start of one), but for now... I'll leave you to ponder...

www.thingstobehappyabout.com - click on "Happy House"

"Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing. But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service coming from your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you. So you too should be glad and rejoice with me." - Phillipians 2:14-18

This is how I want to live my life. Grateful. Cheerful. Rejoicing in the positive. This is my "new year's resolution" on April 3, 2008.