It’s not hard to be angry at the world, upset with people, or even saddened by the negative space we call life. Rant. Rage. Throw a verbal barrage at everything you are upset with, and before long, or at least, in my case, “You’re just an angry man who cannot change with the times.”
I beg to differ.
If anyone has changed with the times, it’s been me! From the mid-50s to the mid-2020s, this world has tipped over several times a year as change throws its weight around. Not to list them, but we’ve moved from Black and White TVs to color marvels we wouldn’t dream of being without sitting in our hands with no cord holding us back!
My childhood neighborhoods were nothing like they are today. The great American dream is a wish list of the poorer, while the rich and famous keep living the good life.
I cannot change the world, here or there, but I can control my outlook.
What Gives
As I think through this thought, it is easy to drop back into an analytical tone and point at the changes creating strife. That’s not why I’m thinking this through. Change is inevitable. This world is groaning.
While I cannot change what’s naturally occurring, I can be in charge of “me.” I’ve said that many times since I first said it in the early ’80s.
I want to be the best me that me knows how!
What’s the best version of “me?”
My bride and I were chatting about the ease with which we can slip into a negative ol’ sour puss and not see the good due to all the bad. It’s how we look at life on the one hand and how we react to life on the other hand.
I point at some examples we’ve both been around and the challenges we’ve faced with attitudes, and then decide: Not Me! Not here, nor then.
The writer of Hebrews says something that makes me further consider my outlook on the hodgepodge of life that rattles every one of us.
Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled;
(Hebrews 12:11-15 NKJV)
Notice the highlighted words. What we go through is painful, but it yields (produces) the peaceable fruit of right living. So, strengthen yourself. By doing so, you protect yourself. Now, pursue peace and holiness with everyone.
I believe we can be better, as one radio host says, “than we have a right to be.” That’s how I want to be better each day so I can live better tomorrow.
And that starts with my Outlook on Life.