Making the ugly beautiful
The Atlanta area has been under a rain cloud for the better part of a week. When it's not raining, it's grey and threatening. While it's hard to complain about the abundance of water given the horrific drought out west, somehow I manage.
Oh yes. I'm resourceful. I dig deep and I figure out a way to whine.
However, a funny thing happened at 5:30 on Sunday afternoon; the sun came out to say hello. I hadn't noticed, but a neighborhood kid came by and rang the doorbell. She practically burst with excitement as she yelled,
"Tell Ellie and Josh to come outside!! It was ugly but NOW it's beautiful!!!"
She announced this with utter joy and barely waited to see if my kids were around. She was acting like the town herald announcing the great news. My kids heard her, paused the movie (Star Wars, don't you know!) and rushed outside.
Whoa! She was right. The late day light was beautiful.
Sunshine is attractive. There was plenty of reason to head outside.
However, what really drew the kids out was her attitude. She was FIRED UP. They weren't about to miss the excitement of fun she was selling. The entire exchange reminded me of one truth:
Enthusiasm is contagious.
This week what if we all made a conscious effort to find the small wins and celebrate them?
What if we said, "Wow! That was AMAZING!" to the people who serve us? What if we text someone and let them know we were thinking of them? What if we look our colleagues in the eye and compliment their hard work? What if we tell our spouse we respect and appreciate them? What if we say "yes" to some of the crazy, fun ideas our kids have?
What would the week look like if we treated everything as exciting as seeing sunshine during a rainy spell?
I think we would make a lot of ugly beautiful again!