What Story Are You Telling?

It's HOT.  But it's summertime, so I actually expect it to be that way.  And you will never hear me complain about the heat because 1) I don't have to actually do anything in the heat except float in my pool, and 2) I wait all year for it to get hot because I. despise. winter!

So today, Z & I were running some errands for Cole, who was at work at our very hot, no AC business.
Zailey said, "Daddy is so lucky!  He gets to have one of those giant Gatorades every single day!"
I said, "Well yes... but Daddy also has to work all day in the super hot warehouse."
"Yes, mom, I know that.  But that's not the story we're telling right now."

Whoa.
At first, I was a little taken back by what I perceived as sass.
But then I thought about how deep her little words really were.

You see, I didn't want her precious, naive, 6-year-old perspective to miss the big picture that her daddy works very hard for her, in summertime HOT and wintertime COLD... I didn't want her to selfishly focus on others' "haves" and her "have-nots."

But as I thought about it I realized that her perspective was actually so much more broad than mine.  "That's not the story we're telling right now."
In her own little way she was reminding me that life is what you make it.  You see what you choose to focus on.

There are good parts and bad parts of every single day.  Now I know that there are actual tragedies and illnesses and terrible circumstances that sometimes (hopefully temporarily) cloud our vision.  I'm not talking about those. Those are different.  I'm talking about the ins & outs of every day. 
The alarm clock goes off - I'm awake and able to get up again today! vs Ugh, I have to get up again.
Time to make dinner - I have food to feed my family! vs Why do these people want to eat all the time?
Cole has Gatorades in the fridge - He gets a Gatorade every day! vs He works in an un-AC shop all day.
You get the idea...
Some would call it "looking at the bright side."  Others might call it "seeing God's blessings" in everyday life.  Both are good ways to think about it.  I'm going to start calling it "the story I'm telling."  If you choose to see the negative, you'll tell the negative story.  But if you choose to see positive, you'll tell that story instead.
And we're all telling a story... to our spouses & kids, to our co-workers, our neighbors, family & friends, the lady at the bank drive-up or the kid working the drive-thru window.  They're all hearing our story. 
So, what story are you telling?