THOUGHTFUL THURSDAY:

Drink It All In:

I once visited a friend, whose darling little boy just turned two years old. Even though this little boy had only met me a couple of times, when his mother opened the door, he ran to me with a huge smile and arms uplifted. I scooped him up in my arms, and spent a few minutes talking with him in that loud, playful voice that adults often use when speaking to babies and toddlers. 

“Well hello there!” I said loudly. “Look how you’ve grown!  You sure are a handsome little boy!” He just grinned a big grin, and his brown eyes twinkled a bit at the attention he was getting. I set him down on the floor, tousled his mop of dark brown hair, and he scurried off to play. His mother and I sat down on the couch to chat. 

Suddenly, he ran and climbed upon the couch between us. In his hand, he had a clear plastic sippy cup filled with juice.  When he plopped down on the couch, he only sat still for a second, before deciding that he would rather sit on my lap. 

He positioned himself in the crook of my arm, leaned back against me, turned up that sippy cup, and emanated sounds of pure pleasure as he drank. It sounded something like, “THPPP-THPPP-THPPP-THPPP.”  Then, he turned his head to look up at me in wide-eyed wonder, and said, “Mmmmmmmm!”  Not just, “Mmm...” but he really let out a “Mmmmmmmm!”  The emphasis in that long, drawn out syllable let me know that it was as if he was saying, “Boy, this is good!” He wanted to let me know how much he truly enjoyed that sip of juice he had just extracted from his little plastic sippy cup. Then he repeated that process all over again. “THPPP-THPPP-THPPP-THPPP.”  He looked up at me again, with those big, brown eyes. “Mmmmmmmm!” He said. This went on a couple of more times, and his mother and I laughed at his sheer enjoyment. 

Later, when I was in my own home, I thought about how something so sweet and simple as a drink from a child’s cup, could bring so much happiness in that moment. Then, I began to wish that I could approach life like that little boy embraced his drink of juice from a sippy cup. 

“It’s raining...Mmmmmmmm!” 
“It’s hot...Mmmmmmmm!”
“I’m all alone...Mmmmmmmm!” 
“I’m around a bunch of people...Mmmmmmmm!”
“Were having spaghetti...Mmmmmmmm!” 
“Were having broccoli...Mmmmmmmm!”
“I’m so busy...Mmmmmmmm!”
“I have nothing to do...Mmmmmmmm!”

Well, you get the idea, I hope. The apostle Paul said, “...for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances.” (Philippians 4:11 NIV) 

The question that I ask myself, is, “Am I thirsting for the right things?” Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.” Matthew 5:6 (NIV)

I, myself, have not yet reached the level of contentment as the apostle Paul. However, today, I am going to try to complain less, and appreciate more. I will try to see the good in a situation, the silver lining in every cloud, the opportunity in the midst of a struggle. I hope to thirst after the things that are pleasing in God’s eyes.

Today, as I face whatever lies before me, I hope that I can drink in all the pleasure of this thing called LIFE, and I hope that I can look up toward Heaven, and say, “Mmmmmmmm!”