Life is good. I find myself repeating this over and over again lately. When I am tired – life is good. When I am bored – life is good. When I am frustrated – life is good. And, especially, when I am happy – Life. Is. Good. This constant reminder to myself is a direct result of the book I am reading by Chris and Janet Attwood called The Passion Test, in which I read this line, “There can be no thought of being a victim, for they know that all of God’s acts are blessings.” House burns down? Blessing. Cancer? Blessing. Baby born? Blessing. Breathing? Blessing. Ant in your kitchen? Blessing. You get the idea. Can you imagine a life lived this way? Can you imagine your life lived this way? I can imagine it, but I have to say I am far from knowing that ALL of God’s acts are blessings. Hence, the repetitious reminder. What would my life look like if it were lived with this simple and profound belief? Very different from the one I live now – I would certainly not have to constantly remind myself about the goodness of life, because when all things are blessings, trust becomes automatic. Gratitude is your life.
Like most of you, I am really good at being grateful for the happy things. But, the challenges? Not so much. Because it is difficult to conjure my faith in these moments, I fail to remember that life’s hardships are the best opportunity to discover my strengths. The ability to first trust there will be a lesson and then to be grateful for what I am about to learn, somehow eludes me. Instead, my habit is to react with the emotions of sadness, anger, frustration, or jealousy when difficult times present themselves. It is so easy to just sink into these feelings when life gets hard, isn’t it? Yet, when we indulge ourselves with such sentiments they can easily become addicting, and ironically comforting after a while. So much so, that to be conscious in the midst of adversity is a lot more difficult than allowing our emotions to take over. It takes effort, commitment, and perseverance to see the lesson through a veil of discontent. And so, it is going to take some time and some good old fashioned conditioning to see ALL of life, even the downs, as a blessing. But, I am committed to this concept, because once I replace the old habit with a new one of faith and trust, I will be able to flow easily with the intentions of God – and let’s face it – God’s plan is always going to be better than mine.
What if everyone looked at all of life as a blessing? I think it would be really difficult to be depressed. It would take an effort to stay angry and unforgiving. It would be a challenge to be impatient when things aren’t going the way you’ve planned. The inconveniences of life could be opportunities to grow into the person you are meant to be. The world would be a very different place if all of God’s acts were seen as blessings. So, I am challenging myself and each of you to stop fighting the things you cannot change. To stop reacting to life’s inevitable suffering with the easy emotions of victimization. To accept what happens with your eyes wide open to the blessing waiting just beyond your attachment to the way you think things should be. To be at peace with the fact that you are alive right now experiencing this moment. To remember that life really is good, and all we can do is try our best– we’ve got nothing to lose but despair. I intend to change my belief and my behavior so I can keep moving in the direction of love, trust, and yellow M&M’s. And, I am hoping you will join me for the ride.
