Awesome

I've checked out the Book of Awesome from the library... well technically this one is "the Book of Even More Awesome"... but the first one is on hold, too.  I really love these books in no small part because they remind me of the small things in life that really are quite wonderful.

and because the author, Neil Pasricha says this in his forward, 

There will be times in your life you’re tossed down the well, too. There will be times you’ll cry yourself to sleep, with twists in your stomach, with holes in your heart. You may wonder if it’s all worth it and you may think that it ain’t. You may wonder if you can handle it or you may beg for restraint. 

But when bad news washes over you and when the pain sponges and soaks in, I really hope you feel like you’ve always got two big choices: 

1. You can swish and swirl in gloom and doom forever, or 

2. You can grieve and face the future with newly sober eyes 

Sure, life has dealt me some blows in the couple years I’ve been writing about awesome things. There was the mindnumbing loneliness of moving to a brand new nowhere town, the broken heart of a broken marriage, and the searing waves of regret when a friend took his own life. 

But I’m lucky because I’ve had a way out for the past two years. I’ve had a secret pill to swallow, a magic potion to swirl, and a bubbly cauldron to sip from every time I felt down or felt black or felt blue. And I hope you know that remedy and I hope you feel it too.

And then he goes and lists awesome things... like peeling the glue off the back of a credit card... or a baby falling asleep on you... or watching cream go into coffee... seriously that one really is awesome.

Or today when I put in a new pair of contacts and suddenly because of this little flimsy piece of plastic *that I put in my EYES* I have 20/20 vision. Seriously.  Contacts are *awesome.*

Side note, how did anyone do anything before there were glasses??? Are there even still people who don't need glasses to see? (and who haven't had Lasik?) I wonder.

It all comes back to looking at things again... changing your perspective.  It's really hard to see the awesome in life when you are looking through your jaded eyes... but if you can remove the filter and look at someone with fresh eyes- like it's the first time... What would you see if you hadn't seen it before? ...What new thing could you uncover if you didn't have any preconceived notions? In the fantasy books the time when a magic user has the greatest potential is when they don't know what the rules are, so they don't know what "can't" be done. But if we can do that in our own lives, after we already know the rules.... If we can train our eyes to look at something as though it was the first time... if we can look not through the lens of ourselves but through the lens of a stranger... there is a lot in this world to be amazed by. There is a lot of awesome.

I know, I know it's becoming a bit of a mantra with me but I have to say it again...

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.”- Roald Dahl

I wish I could explain, but even with all my words I lack the ability to really pin it down, but this is why I believe in God. Because just as sure as there are so many things in this world that are awesome, there is a God who created them and is so much more awesome that it's beyond comprehension... and so we only get little moments... like staring into a coffee cup with cream in it... or being loved by another human being... or discovering a secret hidden in that most unlikely place.

There is a God because there is hope

because there is "magic"

because there is love.

It's awesome.