focusing on the good.

I have this tendency, when I have a lot going on, to tell people just how crazy my schedule is. I don't know why I do this - maybe its because I'm buying into that warped American culture that says that busy is good. Maybe I want sympathy. Maybe, like last night, I felt like I needed my cold and my schedule to justify how tired I was.

Regardless, the only thing I really end up doing is stressing myself out.

But last night, as I was driving home, I realized that each of those things on my calendar, and every additional item they add to my to-do list, represents a blessing in my life.

The meeting that's taking up my time this evening is for a church that I love, and that I'm thrilled to be a part of. The meal planning and grocery shopping and bed making I'm doing this week is because my family, that I love, is coming to visit me. Even the upcoming work deadlines reflect the fact that I actually have meaniningful work to do.

There's not much of anything on my schedule that I'm really dreading, that I'm not looking forward to. But taken as a whole, I still paint them in a negative light.

Instead, I'm resolving to focus on the blessings. Yes, I'll be busy, but I'll be busy doing things that I love, with people that I love. Now I just need to kick this cold.