Look for the Good in Every Day

Last Sunday a woman in our congregation gave us an update about two of her young adult children who are currently serving as missionaries, one in Bulgaria and one in Ukraine. She outlined several tips that she has for missionaries — which are actually tips for all of us — including the following:

• Be grateful for small things.
• Notice the small miracles in every day.
• Love the people.
• Choose to be happy.
• Take a step of faith.
• Love the journey.

Several of these ideas relate to our theme from 1 Peter 3:10 — See Good Days!

I found myself smiling as this mother talked about gratitude for the small things by relating something her daughter in Bulgaria had written in an email home. This young women said she was looking for the good in every day — even if it's just that a particular day is over.

This reminded me of a project I completed last year. For each of the last 100 days of 2014 I posted a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #100happydays. I'd seen others doing this, so I checked out the related website (100happydays.com) and, after my twelve-year-old niece gave me a lesson on how to use Instagram, I accepted the challenge to be happy for 100 days.

Taking time to look for something that brought me happiness every day for 100 days truly helped me to feel happier — even the day that the best I could do was post a meme I'd seen:

I think my happiness came from the sense of gratitude I felt for the small blessings of my life. As Ann Voskamp has written, "Being joyful isn't what makes you grateful. Being grateful is what makes you joyful." (You can follow Ann Voskamp on Facebook.)