Life is About What is and What Can Be

“The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind.” William James

There is a story told of identical twins: “One was a hope-filled optimist. “Everything is coming up roses!” He would say. The other was a sad and hopeless pessimist. He thought that Murphy, as in Murphy’s Law, was an optimist. The worried parents of the boys brought them to the local Psychologist.

He suggested to the parents a plan to balance the twins’ personalities. “On their next birthday, put them in separate rooms to open their gifts. Give the pessimist the best toys you can afford, and give the optimist a box of manure.” The parents followed these instructions and carefully observed the results.

When they peeked in on the pessimist, they heard him audibly complaining, “I don’t like the color of the computer…I’ll bet the calculator will break…I don’t like this game…I know someone who’s got a bigger toy car than this…”

Tiptoeing across the corridor, the parents peeked in and saw their little optimist gleefully throwing the manure up in the air. He was giggling. “You can’t fool me! Where there’s this much manure, there’s gotta be a pony!” (Excerpt from Chicken Soup for the Soul)

There are two kinds of people: Optimists and pessimists. Some will see the wonderful works that are being done everyday, while others are always looking to find the bad.

Christian living isn’t about what isn’t, but rather, what is and what can be.  We are so blessed with brothers and sisters who see us for who we really are, but they also stick with us for they have an eye for who we can be. Jesus is the perfect model of taking a bad situation and making something good out of it. There was no joy in suffering, separation, or sin being splatter all over Him. However, Jesus took our suffering and our separation, and our sin and created the most spectacular opportunity ever! Jesus healed us spiritually by His wounded flesh. By His bloody body, and by taking the sin bullet for us!

Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane was not a prayer of pessimism, but rather, a prayer of humility and service opportunity for mankind. Jesus didn’t see the last days of His life as doom and gloom. Jesus saw the last days as an opportunity to show case His Father’s limitless and unquenchable love for mankind. Romans 5:8 say, “God demonstrated his own love for us….”

The Jesus walk isn’t about whether we have all the latest gadgets, but rather, do we really have a joy for Jesus living? Do you love people for who they are? And, do we see people as an opportunity to show case God by the way that we live our life everyday?

Remember, Be God Controlled!

Brian