I wish I knew more about botany (you know, the study of plant life).  But sadly on my journeys through the wild places of Alabama I constantly find myself trying to identify the beautiful and sometimes strange things I find.  Take this one for example.  If you were the first person to stumble upon this plant what would you call it?  I would have to call it the purple pineapple or something like the blue porcupine.  I may not know what its real name is, but I am happy that does not prevent me from enjoying it today.

        I know it is difficult to discern from this photo, but this bumble bee is enormous.  I had followed him form flower to flower trying to get a good shot of him.  And just like that he led me to the strange and elusive purple pineapple plant (or perhaps it is the blue porcupine bush, I am not sure, they look so much alike).  Seems like that always happens to me; when I am searching for the good side of people (and bumble bees) that it leads me to a discovery of many more wonderful things all around me.

        Has that been your experience as well?  Have you noticed that when you look for dirt to sling at someone, that your whole life gets muddy?  We have a tendency to find what we look for.  If we rummage around in the closets of someone’s past in search of something negative to grip or complain about, then we condemn ourselves to living in a negative world.  If on the other hand we spend our time lifting up and encouraging those around us we are destined to enjoy a life lived in a positive and more cheerful world.

        As you journey through this day you have the power to determine what you will be looking for.  Will your life be sweetened in search of beautiful things like truth, tranquility, hope and love or will your existence be one crammed full of the negatives of this world?  The great thing about our lives is that we are allowed to choose our attitudes and what our outlook on life will be.  Let us choose this day to look for great things in the lives of our family and friends; when we do we will definitely increase our odds on finding something good.

Something to think about:

• There is something new and wonderful every day of our lives, if you look for it.

• Three “bee-attitudes” from the bee: go straight, keep busy, and gather sweet things as you go.

• A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it.

• Hope is an adventure, a going forward—a confident search for a rewarding life.

• The people who get on in this world are the people who get up and look for the circumstances they want and, if they can’t find them, make them.

• Look for strength in people, not weakness; for good, not evil. Most of us find what we search for.

• It’s just as easy to look for the good things in life as the bad.

Thankful that on my search for something good, I found you
Rickey Moore