Living the Positive Life

Glass half full or half empty. Some of us are naturally positive; some naturally negative in nature.

The choice is ours.

The issue is focus.

What do we focus on? For those of us who are Christians our focus is chosen for us. We are commanded to focus on God. We are to love God and love our neighbor. It is simple-but hard-but essential.

When we worship, we focus on God (glass is not just half full; it is completely full and overflowing). As one great worship song says, "Forget about yourselves and concentrate on God and worship God. " Actually, if you give yourself wholly to experience God in worship, you do not have to try to forget about yourself, you naturally forget about yourself. As you are filled with the Spirit of God, the half empty cup vanishes.

"Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Again, our goal is chosen for us. Our priorities are simple. We are a focused people. We are focused on seeking the kingdom of God. As Jesus said in the Model Prayer-"thy kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven." Our mission statement becomes a simple one liner.

So do we focus on what we have or what we do not have? Do we focus on a lost love or being a person who loves? Life is not about what we have lost. It is about what we have won. It is about reaching the goal of reaching a good and honest relationship with God and being an instrument of God's love with the rest of us. Yes, none of us is perfect (no, not one!) but life is not about our failures. It is about relationship.

Do we focus on our "series of unfortunate events" or do we focus on a series of wonderful, even miraculous events that occur in our lives. We all have both. The choice is ours.

Do we focus on our husband or wife or do we focus on being the person God wants us to be?

Do we focus on our children or do we focus on being a good child of God?

Do we focus on what we do not have or do we focus on what we do have?

Do we focus on our body or upon the heart? The body decays but the heart stays.

I have a beautiful and talented daughter-in-law who is hearing and speech impaired. However, she communicates with the best of us. She knows how to communicate!!! She is also an artist. Glass half full or half empty. Somewhere and at some point in her life, she chose "glass half full." As we focus on God and choose "half full" even our disabilities become abilities.

We all seem to have seeing and hearing impairments. We do not see the needs of others instead we see only our needs. We are near sighted, so to speak. We do not hear what people are really saying because we only have ears for what we want to hear. So we are hearing impaired.

As we focus on the glass "half full", we often notice those around us who are not as fortunate as ourselves. The ability to help others has nothing to do with our bank statement. It has to do with our attitude. The thing most people need is hope and love. Neither is contained in a bank statement or a checkbook.

My oldest daughter, has seen more than her measure of personal pain. She is a nurse. As she nurses others with the compassion that God gives her, she comes away with a number of positives. First, she has conveyed the love of Christ to others. That conveying is a giving of herself, a living and holy communion given in a most basic yet miraculous way. The body and blood of Christ continues to minister through us. Second, her perspective becomes more accurate, as she sees how fortunate she is when compared to many of her clients. Her perception of reality automatically corrects itself. She sees that her glass is more than half full.

I very much love the prayer of St. Francis because it is a "glass half full" prayer. It goes like this:

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
Where there is injury, pardon;
Where there is doubt, faith;
Where there is despair, hope;
Where there is darkness, light;
And where there is sadness, joy.

O, Divine Master,
Grant that I may not so much seekto be consoled as to console;
To be understood as to understand;
To be loved as to love;
For it is in giving that we receive;
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

St. Francis was a half full kind of person. Mother Teresa, the same.

What kind of person will you choose to be?

God has left the choice to you!