Someone gave me a package of black licorice from Trader Joe’s for Christmas. I have eaten a lot of different licorice over the years and consider myself somewhat of a licorice connoisseur. Still, this licorice ought to be considered illegal because it is so good someone would kill for it. It is big around, it is soft but still chewy, and the licorice taste is so strong, it is fantastic.

I wonder if there will be licorice in heaven? It seems if heaven is going to be heaven there will undoubtedly be licorice, and for sure Trader Joe’s.

Life is full of small pleasures that happen all day long, but we often steamroll right past them for any number of reasons, but one being we become indifferent to the “small” things in life because any one of them is not that big of a deal, but if they were all stacked up they would be a huge deal.

Becoming a positive person, a happy person, happens when we become a grateful person for all the little good things that happen to everybody all of the time, even in the worst of times.

It is so easy to become a negative person, one who sees mostly just the bad things that happen in life. You then will become a sad person, a bitter person, one who is no fun to be around.

My solution for all negative, sad people is go buy a bag of black licorice at Trader Joe’s, eat it all in one sitting, but eat it slowly, savoring every piece. Then thank Jesus for the pleasure and then determine that you will notice every good thing, no matter how small, and thank Jesus for it all. If you feel yourselves going back into the pit of being negative, buy another bag of licorice, but don’t be a slow learner or otherwise you will get really fat.