Roses, Thorns and Buds

One of the things I did with my group at camp was a camp tradition called 'Roses, Thorns, and Buds'. While sitting around our campfire (or one night around an 'flashlight fire' when we... the adults... were too tired to do a real campfire) I would ask one of the kids to share their 'rose' (something they loved that had happened that day), their 'thorn' (something they didn't like that had happened that day), and their 'bud' (something they were looking forward to the next day). Each day, each kid came up with more than one rose, often they would have no thorn for the day, and they always had at least one or two bud for the next day. Their enthusiasm was awesome. And their excitement over even the littlest adventure was contagious. How great would it be if we approached life like these little kids? If we truly looked at life as a little child. GOD sets before us a new adventure in HIS name every day. Do we look at those adventures like those kids looked at a day filled with songs, games, hikes and canoe trips? Do we list our many roses and buds and anticipate the coming day with enthusiasm and excitement? Or do we agonize over and dwell on the thorns? Do we let the few thorns that creep in choke out the many many roses, and hide the buds from our sight? What if we took a lesson from those kids, and fairly danced with excitement at the thought of new adventure? Imagine what our lives would look like!! A garden full of excitement, full of amazement at the beautiful 'flowers', blessings our GOD has planted for us!!! I pray that those kids I spent half the week with will never stop focusing on the roses, never stop looking for the buds in their lives, and that they will never allow the thorns to choke out their love of life.