Reason #1

This blog was inspired by none other than my brother. What a blessing big brothers are! Unfortunately, most of us don't realize what a blessing our siblings are until we are much older. My brother is 4 years old than me, and I really took him for granted the first 14 years of my life. As I've gotten older (and as we've lived in different spaces for almost 10 years now), I've been able to build a great friendship with him. He sure knows how to bring laughter, yet another thing I took for granted, and can brighten your day in no time. If there was ever a person who had my back and would help me at the drop of a hat, it would be my brother. A few days ago, I was scrolling through Facebook when I noticed one of his "deep" posts. Normally, I wouldn't consider him to be a "deep-posting" person, but he can sure come up with some memorable quotes now and then. His post said, "When life gives you 100 reasons to cry, show it why you have 1000 reasons to smile." We often go through life feeling as if we have more reasons to cry than smile. Each morning, I read the national news and a majority of the stories deal with tragedy, loss, death, despair, and disappointment. I've been walking down a road for months now feeling as if I have 1000 reasons to cry and maybe 100 reasons to smile... on a good day. I was really challenged as I read that quote to start thinking of the reasons I have to smile. Thanks to my accounting background, I decided to pull out my analytical skills and look at my life logically rather than emotionally. It's amazing how emotions seem to out weigh logic, however, when I start putting numbers to things, perspective changes quickly. After all, we know that numbers don't lie (or in Shakira's case, her hips). In fact, if I have one reason a day to smile, I will reach my 1000 reason mark in roughly 2.74 years. That is a lot of smiles! How different would our lives be if we looked for reasons to smile rather than reasons to cry? So, starting today, I will begin showing life my reasons to smile (but in no particular order). I look forward to reaching my 1000 mark and seeing all the smiles I'll have along the way. 

Here's a picture of me, my brother, and his sweet wife on their wedding day. Love them both to pieces!

Reason # 1 - My big brother. Thank you for always giving me many reasons to smile, for loving me, encouraging me, standing up for me, and looking out for me.

"A friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." - Proverbs 17:17