Whether we greet the morning with a grin or a groan, every dawn propels us into the unknown
All we know for sure is what yesterday looked like. But this day? Who knows?
Some of us consider our life to be good, others not so much. Perhaps our circumstances seemed right at the start and then our life took a turn we never imagined. Or wanted.
Does that make us powerless?
I say No. Why would I/how could I say that?
Because we still choose how we will handle what comes. Will we live with fear? Or with calm? Without fail, we get to decide.
I didn’t always understand that. Then I ran across a Dale Carnegie quote that made me think. After reading it once, I read it again, a couple of times. Aloud. Slowly.
“Two men looked out from prison bars, One saw the mud, the other saw stars.”
For whatever reason, those words made me squirm. I heard that voice in my mind asking, What about me? What did I choose to see when I looked at my life?
How often did I cheat myself of seeing the stars?
Do our attitudes color our perception?
Always, we are individuals, not peas in a pod with identical lives. Some people live in the middle of a hard situation that offers little or no hope of getting better, yet they remain cheerful, even calm. How?
Like the prisoner who chose to look up at the stars, where we fix our attention greatly affects how we see our lives. How we think affects the people around us, too. That old saying, “If Mama ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy” also applies to Papa. Our moods trickle down to our children and to everyone in our lives.
In this age of information overload we can’t escape hearing news reports and warnings, morning, noon and night. Often we struggle to keep fear from getting the upper hand.
Even when life is good. Even when we believe in God.
Everyone’s life story includes ups and downs
Times when nothing seemed to work out right. Times we felt alone and comfortless. Even strong Christians can feel weak and empty now and then.
Yet through it all we believe God has not walked away from us and washed his hands of us.
Clearly, we are not the first to experience these emotions. Otherwise, why would the Bible include so much hope and reassurance? For example, check Isaiah 43:1-5; Psalm 139, especially verses 1-18; or John 14:27.
It helps to know where to find favorite Bible verses
Have you ever remembered part of a Bible verse, but not where to find it? Technology comes in handy here, even for us non-techies.
Just enter the words you recall into any general search engine on your computer or smart phone. Almost instantly the complete verse and where to find it will appear on the screen. Sometimes the verse will pop up in several Bible translations. It’s easy to scroll through until you locate the one that matches what you’re trying to recall.
Note: Even when one translation of the Bible varies from another, the core meaning of the text does not change. That traces back to the original texts, which all were written in Latin (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament).
Feel free to mark up your printed Bible
Long ago I started keeping track of verses by underlining them or marking them in some way. I started also keeping notes where to find them on the blank pages at the back of my Bible. My system was and is rather haphazard, but it works for me.
Here are two verses I underlined years ago:
I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life … –Deuteronomy 30:19-20
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. –Lamentations 3:22-23
Never ceases. Never come to an end. New every morning.
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