To Be Bountifully Exhilarated About Life

Enough,enough,enough!Enough of bitterness,resentment, "what-ifs". I am tired of carrying another big fat resentful person over me and I choose life, and life to the full. This morning I was on my way to church, running late for no particular reason other than I have been feeling far too depressed for a young woman who has witnessed the beauty of life time and again and God's faithfulness far too many times to be counted..and there I was dragging the big-

fat bitter woman on my shoulders. I got into church and I was,in so many words,sad. Then Neil spoke about a number of things I can't really remember, but I can certainly tell you of the moment when the penny dropped for me: if Jesus was stepping in your shoes, what would he do? Now, we are not a particularly "wishy-washy" Pentecostal gathering and although normally the 'What Would Jesus Do' thing creeps me out a little, this was an honest wake up call for me. What the pastor was encouraging us to do was not to take Christ out of his chronological and sociological context to fit our own purposes. More so, it was an invite to examine our story in the light of Jesus' teaching. Like if you are struggling for cash, Jesus ain't gonna tell you which investment plan to choose or which bank to rob, but he would tell you not to panic and to live a little bit more care-less-ly in the certainty of his faithfulness,care and provision. So when it comes to my personal troubles, I guess he would encourage me to see the forest (instead of banging my head against all of its trees!), to consider all the good past that has happened,that is happening and that will continue to happen but more importantlyI think he would tell me to get rid of the big-fat resentful bitchy lady I have been carrying around and to begin to dream big dreams again,soar like the eagles and to be extravagantly happy. And,unlike the Baron Hasbrown seems to think, I am one to rise up to the challenge EVERY TIME - and here is the evidence: this morning I wore my do-gooder t-shirt at church!!! Hence I shall rise to the challenge to live like Jesus and be EXTRAVAGANTLY HAPPY!!!*(Oh, and by the way,taking these pictures by myself was hilarious - I reccomend this method as a stress relieving escamotage to everyone!)