Hearing folks talk right now, everyone will talk about how angry folks are right now. Given the convoy protests last month, the upset people being interviewed on the screen, and the dissatisfaction with political leaders, one could well be right. Everywhere you look people are expressing rage.
I remember talking to my son one time about his choice of music. Every "song" he was listening to seemed to be someone yelling into a microphone expressing anger (he was going through a heavy metal music phase at that point). When he said well anger is a legitimate emotion, I said, yes, but so is happiness, or calmness, or whatever. All emotions are legitimate. It is not good to just focus on one.
A number of years back, we decided to rent a large cabin with a friend of ours when we were attening the meeting of BC Conferencce. My friend warned us, several times in fact that she was not a morning person. She asked us to make sure she got up in time so we could get to the meeting.
That morning came it was particularly glorious. After a very wet, rainy winter, the sun in early May was warm. Birds were singing in the nearby trees. The beach which was just a few metres from our cabin, was alive as the gentle waves came ashore. It was so beautiful. I just couldn't help but sing God's praises. Creation was there and it was beautiful. But not our cabin mate for the weekend. She saw me partaking in the wonders of the earth that morning, and literally cried into her coffee mug. "How could anyone be happy at 7 am in the morning?" was her mantra.
Yes I do have times when I am blue and depressed. But I really believe that we get to choose whether we are happy or not. I have done funerals for people where they have all the material blessings in the. world. On the outside they seemed to have everything that would make one happy (a loving family, a nice home, a good job, a nice car). Yet sometimes those blessed people don't feel happy or blessed. They bemoan things that might have been or could be better.
But other folks seem to have little to be happy about. They have struggled for years. They have gone through hard times. Yet they seem happy. They sail through the turbulent storms of life, and they arrive on the other side.
The difference between these two is a choice I think. If I wake up in the morning thinking about problems and bemoaning life, I won't have a good day. If I wake up realizing that I have the same problems but also recognizing the many ways that I am blessed, there is hope. I know there are problems in our world. But if I face the day with dred, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Gloom begets gloom. If I face a day with some hope, the problems seem less burdensome. Choose happiness. Blessings.
I choose the opposite.
