Pretend you're hot.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.  Philippians 4:8 (NIV)

I was reading in a devotional book and saw one of the best quotes ever:  "Fake it 'til you feel it."  I LOVE THAT.  If you have read many of my posts, I'm a firm believer in attitude and seeing the positive aspects in all things.  I may not always reflect that, but I do strongly believe it is essential to peace, contentment and happiness.  I never want to come across like everything is hunky dory all the time in my world, and I'm not walking around 24 hours a day pretending to be happy, but I must admit that sometimes I have to "fake it until I feel it."

Last week our canoe/tube trip was a perfect example.  As a recap, we went on a canoe/tube trip and it poured down hard on us the entire time.  I mean, every single second we were out there.  Every one.  The temperatures were supposed to be in the mid nineties.  I can't tell you with any certainty what the temperature was when we set sail, but I can say that the water in the creek felt very, very warm.  I can only guess that it was around 70 degrees, which means the air and rain were even cooler than that.  Ugh. 

It was definitely not the ideal trip on the water with 13 children.  But as I am learning, my kids seem to hold me accountable for things, even though they don't realize it.  When my kids are with me, I try very hard to keep the whining to a minimum because if mom is complaining, the kids will follow suit and it will become a complete whine-fest.  I had to put on a good face because 13 kids were watching the seven adults and how we were reacting to this not-so-ideal-canoe-trip.

Halfway through, when it became obvious the rain was not going anywhere but with us for the ride, I started shouting out the positive aspects of the trip. I have copied them from my post about our weekend:  It wasn't extremely hot (I don't like to sweat), no chance of sunburn, no bugs, we were still burning calories (we had just eaten taco salad and nachos for lunch, yummy), it wasn't hailing, there weren't high winds (although we had some wind every now and then...brrrr), water levels were good, we weren't going to waste our whole day out there on the creek and we were MAKIN' MEMORIES.

I was determined to FAKE IT 'TIL I FELT IT.  And do you know something, I actually enjoyed that silly trip down the creek...I wasn't miserable.  It wasn't the most fun I have ever had by any means, but in my mind I kept thinking, "I can't believe I'm not miserable." 

At one point I told another tuber, "Pretend you're hot!"  And instantly I felt like my father.  I can't tell you how many times the Quackdaddy has said those words to me.  Growing up when we would be out sledding or something and it would be absolutely freezing, he would say something along those lines.  "Pretend you're so hot you can't stand it."  Hmm, I never really felt that helped at the time, but I sort of get it now...or at least pretend to:)

Do I think we should walk around pretending to be happy and acting fake?  No, absolutely not.  God wants us to be ourselves and to be real.  Do I think that sometimes you have to re-adjust your attitude regarding the situation at hand to appreciate it?  Absolutely.  Sometimes you just gotta fake it 'til you feel it.