Visible Success Part 2

This picture is called "Sharing the Gift" by Susan Rios, and goes well with the theme of making room for wholesome, instant pleasures in daily life. Purchase this on the web at www.piersidegallery.com

There are some things that we can do daily to give ourselves and our families some instant success and feel like we are truly living life, rather than just hoping for something interesting or dramatic to happen "someday."

I believe that God daily provides simple pleasures for us to take that we, in our earnest quest to find something "important" overlook.

The easiest and most obvious place to begin to improve life, is in the dwelling place. Three simple things might help:

Clean it, decorate it, and share it. People love seeing how someone else has "done" their home. Home interior videos are sought after, for personal inspiration, and home interior sites are some of the most visited places on the web. You've heard of house tours. You can film "before" and "after" segments, and use them for future teaching. Young girls in high schools long for beauty and inspiration in their lives. You never know how your influence might spread and what cheer you may put in the heart of someone who needs it.

Simple, inexpensive ways to get the instant lift you need when you think you need something in your life at home are:

Light a scented candle...buy several hothouse flowers and put them in a vase...drink from a pretty glass or cup...go to the dollar store and get a new frame for a photograph...paint one wall each day... clean up your yard...decorate the front porch and front door...buy a special laundry detergent...mop the kitchen floor with a berry-scented detergent...dress up even if you aren't going anywhere...write a poem...sing all the verses of a hymn...write a story of the fantastic day you would have liked to have...sketch a picture of something in your house...rent a good movie and invite someone over to watch it with you...send a "thinking of you" card or a note of appreciation to someone.

It isn't wise to go for long periods without success. To much disappointment can really dull the soul, so be sure to add instant success moments to your life. It reinforces the fact that life is good and beautiful and joyful, and worth living. As the writer, Thoreau said, "Do not despair of life. You have no doubt, force enough to covercome your obstacles. Think of the fox, prowling through wood...for something to satisfy his hunger. Notwithstanding cold and hounds and traps, his race survives. I do not believe any of them every committed sucicide."

In talking to a very depressed girl recently, who suggested it might be better to die than face the days ahead which offerred nothing better than dullness, I suggested that if someone should attempt to choke her, she probably would do everything in her power to resist! We don't have to endure daily failure. We can treat ourselves much better than we do. There are any number of things that can help relieve daily routine and give us the meaning in life that we are supposed to have.

One woman I met, years ago, sent an invitation to an "open house" at her own home. It was such a success, that the next year, others asked if they could have an invitation. She then began having one each year, much to the delight of those in her sphere.

See part 3