What A Wonderful World

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. - 1 Peter 2:9

An interesting thing happened today. Two separate people sent me two unrelated e-mails with links to cute/inspiring online videos. I enjoyed them both immensely, but the uncanny thing about this was that both videos were set to the same song—Louis Armstrong’s “What a Wonderful World.”

I realize that YouTube is full of videos set to this beloved song, but I don’t think it appeared twice in my inbox by coincidence. In fact, I received these two e-mails several days apart, but opened them one right after the other. I didn’t know what either message contained, but was greeted with the same song twice in a row. I don’t think this was a coincidence either. Today, I needed a reminder that this truly is a wonderful world.

Just before opening these, I sat down to write my weekly blog post. “I’ll just quickly check my e-mail first,” I told myself. This was my way of procrastinating because I wasn’t quite sure what to blog about. My brain was swirling with thoughts about my husband’s grandmother who is in serious condition after having a heart attack yesterday. I considered posting some thoughts about managing our schedules after having a heart-to-heart this morning with a friend who is feeling out of control because she tries to do too much. Or maybe I would write something to encourage the women out there who’s husband’s don’t know God, since another friend was lamenting about that issue earlier today. I had plenty of depressing topics to choose from.

But then I heard this song, and it reminded me that despite the troubles and worries of everyday life, God is mighty. We truly do live in a wonderful world. He created not only a beautiful place for us to live, but amazing people to share our experience with. When we strip away the politics and the economics, we can find our way to a simple truth. At its core, life is good. God loves us so much that every day He gives us another beautiful sunrise, a breeze to blow away the mistakes and regrets of yesterday, and a warm sun to encourage us to try again.

If you are feeling down, or frustrated, or alone today, take a step outside and enjoy this wonderful world. Consider it a gift from your Father.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rooyt3ptNco&feature=email