A Dip of Discouragement

Ever just get discouraged and not know exactly why? I seemed to hit that wall last night and today. I'm sure some of it stems from the fact that I always tend to believe the best and get a little idealistic and then have little crashes and burns when the reality of human nature intrudes. Sometimes it is the reality of my human nature that intrudes. In any event, it took some time to reset those feelings and get back to where I needed to be. I find the following prescription works well for me. 1. Focus on my family. I enjoy spending time with Sarah and the kids. Its a big world and even a big church and I can't fix everything, but I have much more ability and responsibility right here in my home. Putting time into the relationships under my own roof really picks me up. 2. Focus on the Lord. You may think this should be number 1, and perhaps it should, but sometimes I need to emotional boost my family gives me to really remember to approach Him. Just being honest about that. Then I do focus on Him and remember, this is His work, not mine, and "one of these days I'm gonna see the hands that took the nails for me." (-FFH) 3. Focus on the people God has given me to work with. Today it was a young man, a kid really, who God has asked me to be a father figure for. We spent 45 minutes of the phone this afternoon. This kid just needs to be loved and paid attention to. It is stage one of discipleship. It was good to do and a real lift. He's a totally awesome kid. 4. Do some good physical labor. Today that meant snow blowing, and cleaning off the shed roofs as well as some shoveling in the rain. Not fun, totally exhausting, but good exercise and release. 5. Spend time with Sarah. Oh, did I mention this already? Well, it deserves to go in twice because tonight we just spent some alone time together and that is always refreshing. Her friendship and encouragement can make the whole world go away. So that's my prescription for a dip of discouragement. I'm feeling much better now which is good because tomorrow is going to be a truly very very busy day. I have a lot to do before the end of the week, and a wedding rehearsal in Rangeley tomorrow evening.