Earlier today as I was chatting with a friend about attitude, this kind of played out underneath my typing fingers. It is an excerpt of our chat time, so no revealing things are here except the 'crux' of the matter.
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Beloved Friend, we are all given that attitude at the moment of salvation. (One of a brighter, more positive outlook).
I would agree life makes it harder at times to have it, yet, it is not so much a bright side I see, as much as it is the 'Bright One' I see. Dr. Adrian Rogers always said outlook could put the strongest person in the throes of depression, but up look could empower a person because it changes your outlook to a faith-look. It seems so trivially trite, but it is true. The more I seek of God and His perspective on my life, and those around me whom I love, the more and more I see Him in each part of it. It changes the 'context' in which I view the things that are happening, or are not happening, as the case may be.
The older I get the more I am looking at each situation with a conscious thought of, 'What is God up to here?'. It is most freeing, as it makes you stop and consider that He really might be up to something big and long-term, and even more, that you might never know the full ramification of what He is doing.
To read the Bible as both a historical document, as well as a love letter, both authored by God, is to begin to understand we each have a role to play in a drama of the ages, and that even seemingly small, insignificant (to us) things might be a really big part of the plan for a future family member that we do not even know yet.
I will give you just one example in the here and now, because it took my breath away with the sheer simplicity of the act, but yet what it produced was astonishing. Just a short few weeks ago the CMA show was on and Brad Paisley, having won the entertainer of the year award, made this statement, and I paraphrase here, 'When I was a little boy, my granddaddy put a small guitar in my hand and said, boy you need to learn to play this thing, It will keep you company, it will soothe your soul, and it will be a lifetime companion.'
I remember sitting here in my office watching and hearing him say it, and thinking just how much it affected me at that moment. It was a slap-you-upside-the-head moment for me. Once again reminding me that even little things I do or say in the lives of my children and grand-children can have VERY long-lasting effects, either for good or bad. If I choose to lean very hard on God and look to Him for my words and actions regarding these special ones I love so dearly, it allows me to get out of the way, and it allows Him full access. It also allows for His special eye to details in their lives to fully play out.
I am SURE Brad's grandaddy had no idea that just that one small act of a gift to his little grandson would so change Brad's life, and that indeed one day he would be using that learned ability to produce such amazing music. Not that I am condoning all his music, but you see where I am going with this. The final outcome was WAY bigger than the original thought.
Once again paraphrasing Dr. Rogers, "Happiness is a result of what happens, it is external. Joy is a result of what is within you as you are filled with the Holy Spirit, and you are consumed with the certainty of your eternity."
We are not a sum total of what happens to us, rather we are a sum total of who we are in Christ as believers. If I focused always on what was happening to me rather than the One who has allowed things into my life in order to produce a perfect masterpiece, I would become rather tiresome to others and myself. Instead, I can rest in the knowledge that God Himself is working to bring about a me who is more like Christ, and frankly, some days I am sure that is a lot harder job than others, but bless God, He is still working. When He is done up with me here, He will call me up there....that is a real power of attitude.
