When Today Doesn’t Feel Like a Gift (But Still Is)

My dad’s favorite song is “Living” by Dierks Bentley. It is also one of my favorites. The Chorus is as follows :Some days you just breathe in

Just try to break even

Sometimes your heart's pounding out of your chest

Sometimes it's just beating

Some days you just forget

What all you've been given

Yeah, some days you just get by

And some days you're just alive

Some days you're living (ooh), mm-hm

Some days you're living (ooh), mm-hm Isn’t this so true? Isn’t this real? Sometimes you are just trying to break even and sometimes your heart is just beating. Like you are just existing. Just at home or work existing. Not really taking it in. Not really enjoying anything, even if that something is good. We are so cruel to ourselves sometimes. We long for that which we cannot have and forsake the gifts we have in front of us all the time. I am just as guilty as you. Today I am reminded of my favorite author Jon Acuff. In fact, as of today, I would summarize this past year as being the toughest year I have ever personally experienced. It has been full of challenges and emotions I am still struggling to come to terms with. I have doubted my skills, I have lost friends, I have lost hope, I have made mistakes and struggled through so many days. In spite of this, there is this book that Jon wrote called “Soundtracks”. This book is has a section where it is helping the reader rewire how we think through affirmations. Not in a woo woo way but a transformative way. The phrase that I cling to on days like to day is this “Everything is always working out for me.” Sounds ridiculous right? Sounds like some woo woo to me… However it is not, it is far from it. There is a 400 billion to 1 odd that you and exist on this spinning rock in the first place, yet here we are. Kicking and screaming surviving and thriving in the same breath sometimes. I am so encouraged by this phrase because it is true.If it were not, I would not have the breath that is in my lungs or the beat within my heart. I would not have the children that fill my home and the beautiful wife whom cares so well for us. I would not have these things at all if it were not. So though today feels hopeless. It is not, it is actually full of the opposite. It is full of every reason to be filled with hope. Every good thing is a resounding exclamation point on the fact that everything really is working out for me and you. It is about how we choose to think, how we choose to show up, how we choose to move forward. There is always a choice. Today and likely tomorrow those choices for me personally will be difficult but that does not mean that they rob me of truth. The truth is. While there is breath in these lungs, hope abounds. Go be awesome today. The world needs you.