what i learned from a bottle of soda

A little over a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to go on a week long missions trip...all the way to Minnesota! Through face and hand painting, we shared the gospel with children at the local fair, and we also taught Bible clubs in various neighborhoods. I knew it was going to be my last year volunteering with this particular children's ministry as a teen, so I enjoyed having one last adventure! I was able to share the good news of God's grace with dozens of children and build friendships with them too. 
One of the women who hosted a club needed help scraping and painting her house, so we spent an afternoon helping her. At the end of the week, she stopped by with a basket of gifts, saying that under no circumstance could we open the basket before we left! When we were about a half hour down the road, we decided we could officially open the basket. We discovered she had given us snacks and drinks for the trip back home, including a bottle of Coke for J and a bottle of Diet Coke for me! (Earlier in the week, John's affinity for all things Coca-Cola had come into conversation, during which she had smiled and said, "I'll remember that!" I must've also mentioned my preference to drinking diet). I was so touched by her thoughtfulness that I decided to save my bottle of Diet Coke for a very special day.
So I kept it.
In my closet.
The day after we returned home from the trip, J went off to college 400+ miles away. We found out that long distance relationships (though worth it) are not easy. And due to other parts of my life, I began to feel anxious and stressed. It was definitely not a time worthy of drinking my special bottle of Coke...
So I kept it.
And I still didn't open it.
And it sat there.
And it sat there.
Autumn came, and a friend gave me a piece of candy. I decided to save it until I had a good day. I kept it on my desk. And it sat there. And it sat there. Until one Sunday when I was Skyping with J. I told him I had not had a good day in a while, so I was waiting for a day that was worthy of that piece of candy. 
He told me to eat the candy.
Right then and there.
Even though it was not a particularly good day (or a particularly poor one either).
I ate the candy.
And that's when I realized that life will have its ups just as it will have its downs. Yes, some days will be completely crummy. They will seem so unredeemable that they cannot be fixed by anything, not even chocolate candy or bottles of soda. Then there will days that can be simply described as, "meh". And there will be some days in which life will seem so obviously beautiful and so filled with color and light, that we wonder how we ever could've lost hope in the first place. All of these days mesh together to form what we know of as life.
But I don't need to wait until one of those "good" days to enjoy the little pleasures of existence - otherwise I might be waiting for a long time. I don't know how many days I have, though God knows - in James 4:14 the Bible tells us we don't know what will happen tomorrow and that life is just a vapor. 
Part of my struggle with depression has been my unwillingness to see God's bigger picture and His love for me. But another part of my battle has been learning how to live in the moment too - not waiting for a better day, but for making this day better. 
I don't remember in detail the day I finally decided to drink the Diet Coke, but from that container of carbonated liquid I learned so much - that though life has its "good" and "bad" days, part of kicking depression's butt is through small triumphs... laughing out loud, making someone smile, enjoying a hobby, making music, eating chocolate, and maybe even drinking a bottle of soda.