Drops of Inspira

 Hello! Thank you for joining me for another Monday! Today I'm discussing another area I feel woefully inadequate to write about: being thankful in every season.  When I was thinking about which aspect of thankfulness to write about this week, I really hoped to write about something a little more cliché. Something more happy. Something easier to write about. But as I thought more about it, the theme of being thankful in every season kept coming up. Songs about it kept playing on my Spotify. It came up in conversations with my friends. It came up in my prayer journal early, early this morning (like 2:30 early. Hello insomnia.). And it came up this morning. Being thankful is easier when the sun is out, the sky is blue and things are going our way. It's easier when there is plenty to eat and when our bank accounts aren't running on empty. It's a lot harder when we're sinking under depression, running from anxiety, sobbing in choking grief, our pantries are running empt...

 Hello and welcome to November! November has to be my favorite month of the year. Not only is it the month of Thanksgiving if you're in the United States, but it's also the month of my mom's birthday. I grew up very close to my mom, and she's still very important to me so her birthday is always a cause for me to celebrate, to give thanks that she is with me for another year. Speaking of giving thanks... That is the topic of the blog for this month. Giving Thanks. Yes, I know it might be a little cliché, but it's also something I think, that we don't do often enough. For some reason, as a society we all seem very entitled. We have rights. We even have a Bill of Rights. We feel that we are owed certain things and we get angry when we don't get them. As a society, we are very entitled. But listen. We are not actually owed anything. And for what we are given, we should give thanks.  We should give thanks the year 'round, but let's start with this month. ...

  Hello! I was thinking about what to talk about for this month and the phrase, "fighting for joy" kept cropping up. It's a phrase a pastor of mine used to use. He used to talk about how joy doesn't just float in. Not most of the time. Most of the time, we have to fight for it. So, that's what this month's theme is going to be. Fighting for Joy. Because honestly, I need to be reminded as much as anyone that joy is worth fighting for. If we don't make an effort to seek joy, then we are living an apathetic life. We're just content to float throughout our days, hoping that somehow, someway joy will drift in and lift our hearts out of our circumstances. Since joy must be fought for, chances are, we're going to get scratched up. We're going to be battle weary, and there will be times that we will feel like it's just too much work. But what is the alternative?  Lately, I've felt myself start to drift. I'm tired. Everything in life seems t...