I have been aware recently of the sudden (or so it seems so to me) proliferation of "life is good" type logos/branding. There are a number of products on the market now that use this mantra or some version of it. For the most part, I don't usually notice marketing slogans - at least not consciously. I think I am noticing this one because I find that I'm coming to understand on a deeper level, with a deeper sense of knowing, that life is good.
Partly, for me, this means understanding that life isn't "good" because things are going the way I want them to, or because things are easy, or because I can stay in my comfort zone and maintain the status quo... Life is "good" because I am learning to trust more deeply that loving God and being loved by her are what make the details of life have meaning. Life is "good" because I am learning that this day will roll into the next, this moment will roll into the next and things will change - but what will remain constant is being loved by God and being connected to one another.
I also realize I am connecting to this theme in part because of the experiences I lived for several years while denying God's call to live the life I am now living... I bought a pendant the other day that says "live the life you love; love the life you live". I bought it because I feel that it names what I am doing - finally embracing the gifts and graces I have, finally beginning to embrace a life of wholeness (but I do confess I am still working on the "life of balance" part!)... I am definitely living the live I love and loving the life I live!
What about you? If you are not loving the life you live, what one thing can you do (add, change, stop doing...) that would move you in that direction? How can we help one another along that journey?
8 comments:
The christmas after Nolan died, my sister-in-law sent us all 'Life is Good' merchandise. The kids got t-shirts and I got a bookbag. All I could think about was how awful life was as we were celebrating Christmas without our youngest son. And, I was also struck by the irony. Yes, LIFE was good. Death was bad, very bad. Of course, I was too close to our loss to think about eternity. My heart felt the sharp pain of loss. Two years has softened the intense pain but I still don't like that stuff. It reminds me of where I was that Christmas as I watched my children open those gifts. Being separated from one of my children is hard . I think my personal logo would be 'Afterlife is better.'
P.S. I do enjoy my life. I will always feel like Nolan should be loving his life with us but I do love the blessings I have received.
So, now
Lately when people ask me how I am my answer is, "Apparently crazy." Most people agree with me as I am generally tailed my my four children aged 5 and under. But I don't think I'm crazy. Life for me is GOOD! I have been blessed with these 4 amazing creatures that are absolutely the sun to me. In some ways my life is crazy. My living room is a mess, somedays I can't find my shoes because someone has had her little feet in them, and I am certain the laundry is secretly plotting to take over our lives. But when I look at my children, the words to the Martina McBride song come to my mind:
I get kissed by the sun
Each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the
Bedroom door
Sometimes I sit on my
Front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place
Chorus:
I have been blessed
And I feel like I've found my way
I thank God for all I've been given
At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones
That love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed
God is good. Life is good.
THanks so much for your post. I'm working on a sermon for Sunday on Psalm 8 and really feel drawn to talking about how we are loved by God -- yet most of us don't believe it. Your post helped put me in the right frame of mind for that message. I thought I might add my favorite quote from Joseph Campbell on loving the life you live: "Follow your bliss."
Kerri,
Thanks for sharing from your heart. No, the things that happen to us in this life are not always good. Good may come from it, but that doesn't make the experience itself "good." I am hearing impaired and am slowly losing my hearing - without my hearing aid I can no longer hear children speak (or teens mumble!). But from learning to deal with my hearing loss, I have learned to depend on God and trust God in ways I may not have otherwise - my being able to sing despite my impairment is partly because of this trust and dependence.
I must confess that I cannot truly begin to comprehend the loss that you've suffered (and know that I'm not comparing hearing loss to it) - I can try to be there for you and walk with you through it, but my experience is still filtered through you (please know that my heart aches for you). It seems to me that "life is good" sometimes becomes a parroted or rote reply for people - when we know that not all events in life are good. But as Christians, we can trust that God is good and faithful - even when we don't "feel" it.
I am glad that you are healing, and are able to see and honor your blessings despite your loss (or perhaps because of your loss?).
Peace.
Brian,
Hello fellow Disciple and fellow former-teacher (high school math, more years than I want to admit!). I've been reading your blog for awhile now - it's great! Thanks.
I, too, think that most of us don't believe that we are loved by God - or at least most of us (myself included, sorry to admit) don't act much like it. I keep thinking that if I knew that the One who created all that exists loves me, then how would that change my life? I would think things like envy and jealousy would cease to exist. I think part of the problem is that we (humans) teach one another to compare everything, to compete for everything - but God's love is not a competition, and God does not compare. God loves me more than I'll ever know, just as God loves you more than you'll ever know, just as... I think I oftentimes view the world from the scarcity of my understanding (and then respond/live from that) rather than viewing the world from the abundance of God's love (love for me and for all). ...hmmm, more to ponder...
...and yes - Follow your bliss!
Peace.
Several years ago I started keeping a gratitude journal (as in Simple Abundance by Sarah Ban Breathnach). At first, it was very hard to come up with five things to be grateful for every day because I would not allow myself to list the same obvious ones every day. Then, I started consciously looking for things to write (I don't like blanks) and it became a daily chore to find things for which to be grateful. A chore! But then, another corner was turned, and the blessings became so apparent that I needed more than five lines every day! It was a wonderful exercise that I carried on for about a year, and it made me realize not only that life is good, but _why_ life is good.
I need to start that journal again....
Janet,
I tried the gratitude journal, too (yep, read the same book). I didn't last a year though! I found it hard at first, too, to find things other than the obvious ones. It did get easier after awhile. What I really liked about it was that I did it in the evening time and it became a time for me to review my day, to review my actions and interactions with others - both good and bad on my part. It became an opportunity for growth.
Thanks for brining that memory back.
Peace.
I bought into the marketing - bought a shirt that says "Life is Good" on a weekend retreat to Fernandina with a bunch of lady friends that I love. Everytime I wear the shirt, I'm reminded of that weekend, the gift of friends and especially those lady friends.
I believe that Life is Good because I believe that God loves me.
The inside collar of the shirt says "Do what you love; Love what you do." I'm working on that part!
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