It’s Often What You Make Of It
“I have always believed, and I still believe, that whatever good or bad fortune may come our way we can always give it meaning and transform it into something of value.” ~ Hermann Hesse
There are certain ways that almost all of us react at any given moment. If we touch something hot, we pull our hand back. If we get cold, we put on a jacket. If we see something funny, we smile or laugh. If we experience something sad, we cry. If something bad or dangerous comes our way, we flinch and/or do our best to avoid it.
Those reactions are very quick and relatively automatic. We do not think a whole lot about them. The thinking part comes later. If we experience a series of events that are sad, we might become morose or depressed. If we experience a number of people putting us down, we might become hardened and refuse to let people into our lives. Our decisions are based upon the number of times something happens to us.
We do not often consider turning bad fortune into something positive, though. When bad fortune comes our way several times, we want to run from it. There are others who examine it. They try to see why the bad fortune is happening and decide if there is anything that they can do about it in order to make things better or at least more tolerable.
We do have the ability to turn things around in our lives if we pay attention to them and try to determine what is necessary to make things different.
Sometimes people refuse to change the patterns of their spiritual lives. They may have tried a different way to pray in the past and found it uncomfortable or unproductive. Because of some negative experiences, they may have decided that they would keep the same prayer life even if it has become stale. Others may have tried serving others in a ministry. The ministry may not have been for them. Instead of trying other ministries, they decided not to do anything new. They may have missed out on a ministry that could bring them peace, happiness, and fulfillment.
If we decide something isn’t worth it and give up on it, we may never know what we could have had. That is as true of our lives in this world as it is of our faith lives. Don’t become stagnant. Don’t allow yourself to be stale. If something didn’t work, try something else. If something makes you uncomfortable, try to understand it better and determine how you can make it more positive. Our lives, indeed, often are what we make of them.
FAITH ACTION: Ask God for the grace that you need to turn anything negative that comes your way today into something of positive value.