I love the story of the woman who woke up one Monday morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” She did and she had a wonderful day. On Tuesday she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. “Hmm,” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” She did, and she had a great day. Wednesday morning she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said, “today I’m going to wear my hair in a ponytail.” So she did, and she had a fun day. On Thursday she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head. “Yes!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

I thought of that story this past Thanksgiving when Dave and I joined family members and their friends at the dunes in Dumont, California.  They all had spent several days there in their RV’s, riding their “toys” (dirt bikes and side-by-sides) over humongous hills of sand that stretched for miles. We were the newcomers, not nearly as daring (actually, I was terrified) and certainly much older than they.                                     Since Dave’s daughter, Nikki, her husband Dave and the other four families had spent the last 30 Thanksgivings there, they understood the terrain’s difficulties. More than once, they towed less-seasoned campers out of deep trenches of sand.                                     They shared food, tools, and “toys” with each other.  No one complained about the sand that filled their clothes, covered their hair and faces or found its way into their beds.  Our eyes were crusted and our mouths gritty as day after day the sand whirled around us.  Still, everyone loved the adventure enough to ignore this minor annoyance.                   I need to look at all of life with that perspective.  Not surprisingly, this past Sunday Dave and I tried a new church, and the sermon was on the book of Psalms and how the writers of the 150 chapters praised God through the good and the bad.  One strand of hair or sand-matted hair. It mattered not.                                                                Did you know that you can change your life by changing the way you think?  By finding reasons to praise God, for example, we will find the promise in Isaiah 26:3 (NLT): You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, whose thoughts are fixed on you. A mind filled with thoughts fixed on God will produce a heart filled with praise, a powerful tool in our spiritual arsenal as we traverse life’s challenges.                                          Praise brings healing to our spirit. It provides a conduit by which the Father conveys deliverance and blessing. With the Christmas season approaching, let’s all find reason to appreciate the gritty annoyances of life as we invite God to pull us out of our deepest trenches that mire us in stress and anxiety.  He waits to be given the chance.