We're Surrounded!

I just finished reading Drops Like Stars by Rob Bell. It was great!

I could write about a lot of its content. I hope I am not infringing on any copyright, but here is a quote from Bell:

"We are going to suffer.
And it is going to shape us.
Somehow.

We will become

BITTER OR BETTER
CLOSED OR OPEN
MORE IGNORANT OR MORE AWARE
MORE OR LESS

tuned into the thousands
upon thousands of gifts we
are surrounded with every single
moment of every single day."

Isn't that true?

It's not a matter of why we suffer...

But it's what we do with it.

It's not a matter of looking at the bad things in our life...

But finding the blessings we're surrounded with.

Because, we are surrounded.

It reminds me of a bank scene where robbers think they're about to get away with all of the case.

But then a policeman bursts in and says "GET YOUR HANDS UP IN THE AIR! YOU'RE SURROUNDED!"

And the burglar looks around to see he's got cops coming at him from every angle.

Isn't that the way life goes, too?

We think we're in trouble then God, like the policeman, busts in and says,

"GET YOUR HANDS UP IN PRAYER! YOU'RE SURROUNDED!"

Yes, surrounded. Surrounded by blessings. It's not a matter of looking at things like problems- but finding blessings in each problem.

And then getting our hands up in the air in prayer.

Prayer of Thanksgiving.

We're surrounded! It's great, isn't it?!

Blessings:
I've realized I eat a lot of fruit in a day. For instance, here are all the servings I had today (it wasn't all that I ate, this is just the fruit intake)
-Breakfast: Red raspberry jam on whole grain toast
-Morning Snack: 3 chunks of watermelon
-Lunch: Sliced peaches and applesauce
-Afternoon Snack: Big bowl of sliced strawberries with a little coating of Nutella
-Dinner: Banana and Cranberry-Grape juice.
-Evening Snack: Smoothie made with fresh strawberries and raspberries

^That is a blessing because I LOVE fruit!^

-Trip to get groceries

-Realizing that this suffering has made me:
  better, not bitter.
  open, not closed.
  more aware, and not more ignorant.
  more, not less.
  Because I'm surrounded!