By Brenda Cannon Henley
“Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.” (Kahlil Gibran)
I have news for all of us. God doesn’t expect or desire us to all be just alike. He made us to be individuals, to be different, so that we can all put our piece of the puzzle in the right place for the greater good of all. Now, let’s be honest and straightforward here. There are certain Bible principles that apply to all of us. They are for our good, our benefit, and our blessing.
We can choose to claim these principles, incorporate them into our lives, teach them to our children, and build our lives around them. Or, we can ignore their teaching, abandon God’s word, and live unto ourselves. It really is up to us. We are free moral agents because God made us that way.
When we continually make wrong and bad choices, we spend income foolishly, we drink too much and too often, we are known as brawlers and fighters, we are unfaithful, our word is not respected, and then when something really bad happens, we get mad and ask God why. Much of our troubles, we bring on ourselves.
Some things in life will simply just happen. People get really ill, jobs are lost, bills cannot be paid, relationships sour, and we feel despondent and sad. We ask God, “Why?” And we might add, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” That is an age old question that scholars have answered for years.
When something bad or unfavorable does happen, how we handle or respond to it often determines the course of our lives and the lives of those we love. Do we blame God? Or, do we assign blame to other human beings? It seldom that people face the facts and claim the blame immediately. That is hard and often hurts, but is necessary to get past the issue and move forward.
Let’s work on developing good attitudes and being willing to face the responsibility of our actions. Our attitude will often determine our altitude much more than our apptitude. Think on that.
May God help us to live right, be a blessing to others, and acknowledge the blame that is ours. This often clears the way for happiness and blessing.
Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, or
[email protected].
[4-23-2018]
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