That is AWESOME!

Greetings,

Once again the business of life has gotten in the way of my writing.  With my daughter's graduation coming up, our church fundraiser this Sunday, and the general day to day stuff , I have found myself stretched from my writing!  Oh well, what can you do?

Today I want to share with you an amazing experience I had last week.  After Stephanie's tennis tournament last Saturday Christine and I found ourselves perusing the shelves of the nearest Barnes and Noble book store.  It was while I was in the humor section when I found a book.  I am not sure whether it was the bright colors of the front cover that pulled me towards it or whether God Himself was pulling me toward a book that would bring a smile to an other wise mournful day.  I wasn't sure why I began reading this book.  All I know was that I could not  put it down.

Normally, a book that I pick up to read at a bookstore is one that would take me a better part of a day to read.  However, this book was written in such a way that I was finished with it in a matter of minutes.  And when I finished it I I felt a sense of renewal.  The words that had been put down on paper moved me to, perhaps, consider the possibility that the people around me weren't all idiots.  For one brief moment in time I felt connected to humanity.  The pages in this book convinced me that, in a general sense,  we are all alike.

The name of the book is The Book of Awesome  and it is written by  Neil Pasricha  .  For many years  Neil  kept a blog, somewhat like this one.  He had created it as a get away from his daily grind.  After working his nine to five job he was able to come home and laugh.  The Book of Awesome is a collection of the tiniest things in life that make you smile, brightens your day, and changes your attitude for the better.   Neil  has been collecting these awesome things for years.  What started out as a hobby has turned into a multi million hit blog! 

The premise of the book is quite simple.  It list 1000 awesome things that people find comforting.  I know you are probably thinking to yourself, "what the heck is this man talking about?".  Well, the easiest way to explain it to you is to give you examples of things that are awesome.

1.  When cashiers open up new lanes at the grocery store...that's awesome!
2.  Snow days...for the kids that is awesome!
3.  The smell and sound of a campfire... that's awesome!
4.  When your microwave popcorn pops perfectly...that's awesome!
5.  Old folks who sit on their porch and wave at you when you go by...that's awesome!

I hope that you are beginning to get the idea of the awesome things that I am talking about.  To read more awesome things you can go to http://www.1000awesomethings.com/.

After reading this book I began thinking to myself what I considered to be awesome.  We all have those little things in our lives that can take a bad and turn it upside down in mere minutes.  Things like flipping your pillow over to the cool side, rubbing a new baby's bald head, or the smell of rain on a hot sidewalk.  All of these things are the little things that make up our lives.  I believe that so many of us are concentrating on the big things of life we forget to notice tiny awesome things in life.

On  my journey home I have found that God has blessed me with the little things.  There are times when I become so tired of fighting pain that I just want to give up.  It is during these times when God chooses to remind of the little awesome things in life like opening and sniffing a new can of tennis balls.  Silly?  Maybe, but it is small things that life that can take awful and turn it in to AWESOME!  Life really isn't about the big things we do it's about the little things.  It's the smell of leaves on a brisk fall morning.  It's being the guy on the construction team who gets to hold the stop sign,  it's being able to solve anything in life with rock-paper-scissors.  Our lives are an accumulation of little things. It's the awesome things in life that make life awesome and I can assure I know.  When we find ourselves in life threatening situations we don't think about how much a new roof is going to cost we think about our families.  We think about our children's first step or the sound of our spouse's voice as they say, "I love you".  No, our lives are not defined by the great accomplishments in life.  Our lives are defined by the little things wait, I mean to say the awesome things!

So, take time this moment and think of the little awesome things in your life.  Take a moment to bring to mind the funny, quirky, priceless moments in your life and when you do I'll bet the farm that it brings a smile to your face.  God is in the little things.  So if your missing God look for Him in the little blessings of life!  Finally, go to the web page I mentioned above and then come back and use the comment section under this blog to share your awesome things with others.  I can't wait to read them.  Whether it's peeling an orange in one shot or the smell of bakery air our lives are filled with AWESOME things!

Until next time,

Derek