10 Things I Love About Life

In the 90s, there was a fun albeit cliché movie that came out called 10 Things I Hate About You. It introduced me to the late Heath Ledger and his beautiful smile. I’m watching it right now and it’s oh so cringe-worthy to watch now. BUT- I can’t help but watch it and sing along when he takes over the PA system and to tear up when she reads her English assignment. The cheese factor is just too good to be truuuuee. Ok I’m done singing.

But if you listen to her speech, she’s listing off things she hates about him. It’s so easy to come up with ten things we hate about anything. Ten things I hate about grocery shopping. Ten things he hates about his wife. Ten things she hates about her body. Ten things you hate about your in-laws. Ten things he hates about his job. Ten things she hates about her marriage. Ten things we hate about the public education system (let me count the ways). Ok so maybe with that one, it would be easy to come up with a hundred things we hate about it.

I would bet money that you already thought of things that might fit under any one of those categories. Or maybe you came up with ten things for all of them. I hate my thighs. I hate how they undermine me. I hate how long the lines are. I hate how rules are made by non-teachers. I hate how he forgets things. I hate how easy this is.

But what if we flip the script? What if instead of thinking about what we hate about something, even just in passing… what if we intentionally think about what we love about things? Can you as easily come up with ten things you love about grocery shopping? Ten things you love about your spouse? Ten things you love about yourself?

I know. Way more difficult, especially when we’re supposed to be thinking about ourselves positively.

Most people know and refer to Philippians 4:8 and we’ll get there shortly, but let’s start with verse 4. “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again- rejoice! Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.” Always sounds like a lot. It IS a lot. If we frame it around the idea that the Lord is coming soon, always doesn’t seem so long. Plus it doesn’t say we have to be full of joy in ourselves or our family. It says in the Lord. That looks different. It’s like putting on glasses that completely change your vision. If we find joy in the Lord, it’s easier to find joy in the middle of traffic or loss or change because the Lord is sovereign and steady. He never fails so our joy can be steadfast, too.

Now let’s look at the majority of verse 8. “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Thing about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.” It one hundred and twenty percent does not say to think on our own opinions or to focus on what gossip we heard about ourselves. It’s quite the opposite. Truth: I am tall. Lie: I am too tall and that makes me weird. If I focus on my opinion of my height, I slump or stand leaning on one hip. I’ve done it so much in my life that one leg is literally almost an inch shorter than the other from the years and years of pressure and strain. I have, in every sense, made myself smaller in order to fit a mold that I didn’t have to because I was focusing on one of ten dozen things I hate about myself. Instead, the truth is I was made tall. By hating the design, I am questioning the Designer. Ouch. That gets sinful a lot faster when we reframe it.

When we fix our thoughts on things that are lovely or excellent or worthy of praise, it shifts everything. Is the afternoon carline worthy of praise? Well. Maybe not. But the teachers waving at you might be. The mom in the car beside you might be. The tiny person climbing into your car probably is. Is the grocery store worthy of praise? Maybe the worker bagging quickly even though her break started ten minutes ago is serving you when he doesn’t have to. Is your husband worthy of praise? Maybe he left the pan out for the eleventy seventh time in a row, but he gave up his gaming night to take you o a date.

The verse doesn’t tell us to focus only on that which is perfect. Even when telling us to always be full of joy it doesn’t say to only be joyful with perfection. It says to find joy in the Lord. Finding our joy in Him makes it a lot easier to look around and fin things that are worthy or honorable or pure or true or excellent. And maybe, just maybe, you’ll look around and find that you hate the way you don’t hate things. Not even close. Not even a little bit. Not even at all.

- Write down ten things you love about someone close to you. Text them one or two of those things.

- Write down ten things you love about yourself and post it where you can read it every morning for a week.

- Ask God to stir your heart throughout the day to remind you to find your joy in the Lord