Attitude is Everything

Several years ago I came across a sign that said, “Everyone brings happiness into your life, some when they come and others when they go.”  Where do you fit in?  Do people like to see you leaving much more than they like to see you coming?

People have asked me many times why I am so happy.  Oddly, some of them have the ability to make that sound like a bad thing.  I don’t have an answer except to say that it’s a decision. 

Happiness is a situational emotion.  If you are with friends and having a good time, you’ll probably be happy.  If you are stuck in traffic on a hot day without an air conditioner, you probably won’t be happy.  Happiness comes and goes with what happens in our lives, but we can still choose to be happy more often than we are not.

The reason I think I am happy so much of the time is because I have a great joy within me.  The joy of knowing that I am the daughter of the creator of the universe and that one day, I will be residing with Him in heaven for eternity.  God dwells within me and He brings joy wherever He is.

Joy is ever present no matter what happens in our lives.  When God dwells within us we can be at peace whether it is raining or the sun is shining, whether we are hot or cold or whether we are healthy or sick.  Rainy days can bring us down, the temperature may not be to our liking or we may be unhealthy and these things can play a factor in our happiness, but never our joy.  Joy comes from God and happiness comes from our conscience decision.

Have you ever met anyone who lights up the room just by walking in?  You find yourself smiling just at their presence?  They are filled with joy and it overflows to others.  Pray that God will continue to bless them.

Have you ever met anyone who brings a room down just by their presence?  Everyone averts their eyes to avoid eye contact.  This poor soul doesn’t have joy and may very well not have happiness either.  Pray that God will bless this person with a great joy, to live in His beauty.

So whether you are happy when someone comes or when they go, keep them in your prayers – they need them!

Seen and Unseen

Comedian Bill Engvall coined the phrase, “Here’s your sign.”  In the way only a comedian can, he tells us people should wear “signs” so everyone else will know who they are (he’s referring to people who tend to do or say things that aren’t exactly intelligent – such as touching a hot iron and saying, “Ouch, that’s hot!” leaving us inwardly thinking, “no kidding Einstein”!)

In a sense, we do wear signs, they just aren’t evident to everyone.  On the front, we wear a “sign” which we present to everyone only what we want them to see.  We are nice, loving, caring, hardworking, faithful, successful, rich or whatever it is we ourselves want others to see in us.

We wear another “sign” on the back.  This sign lists our faults.  We don’t want anyone to know what this sign says and we really believe no one has any idea what’s on it either.  We don’t want anyone to know we are insecure, afraid, have an anger problem, in debt up to our noses, in a suffering marriage, estranged from our children, self-righteous, stuck-up or whatever it is we don’t want others to know about us, including sometimes, ourselves.

We are not supposed to, but we judge people based on what we can see.  We tend to forget that there is a whole other side to the story that we cannot see.  We get upset because Father didn’t stop and talk to us after Mass because he was in a rush to get out of church and on with his day, but we didn’t know the hospital just called and he was needed at a dying person’s bedside.

Our in-laws call and invite themselves for a week long visit and we feel put out because it doesn’t fit into our schedule and then we find out at the end of the visit that dad has been diagnosed with colon cancer and nothing can be done.  He’s dying and wanted to see us one last time.

We get angry when a young woman goes in to have an abortion because we know for a fact it’s wrong.  We forget that she has probably been taught that it’s perfectly okay to do because she has a “choice” and that she needs love and forgiveness instead of anger and resentment from us.

On and on and on we judge each other, instead of loving each other, because of what we think we see.  Only God can see all things and He loves us infinitely more than we will ever love one another.

Every time we start to judge someone, we must stop and pray for that person instead (this will take practice).  If that person truly has the defect we are making judgments about, then they need our prayers.  I urge you to pray for yourself though, asking God to keep you from falling into that defect as well (if you haven’t already!).

Love is Prayer

"For me prayer is a surge of the heart, it is a simple look towards Heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." - Saint Therese of Lisieux

Yesterday a friend said to me, "love is prayer" and those simple words found a spot in my heart.  Truth has a way of doing that to us.  Prayer is communication with God; raising our minds and hearts to our Father in heaven.  When we pray, when we lift our minds and hearts to God the Father, we show our love for Him.

Without communication with another, there can be no relationship.  Relationships vary throughout life and even with different individuals.  I have friends I see maybe once a month, some I see almost daily.  Not surprisingly, I am much closer to the friends I see on a daily basis than the ones I only see once a month.  We obviously communciate more frequently and therefore, have a stronger bond.  This makes sense, right?  The strength of your communication with another will determine the depth of your relationship.

What kind of relationship would you have with your spouse if you only communicated once a week?  Probably not a very good one.  In fact, you probably wouldn't have a very good relationship with one another if you only communicated with your spouse once a day.  In a good spousal relationship you will communicate throughout the day with one another, even if just briefly.  It's how you stay connected with each other.

This works the same with God.  If we need to communicate with our spouses throughout the day to keep our relationship healthy, how much more important is it to communicate with God?  We need to be communicating with our Creator, our God, our Father, throughout the day.  Prayer should be our first "act" each day and our last one each night and frequently in between.  Relationship with God is not Mass on Sundays and prayer before meals.  Relationship with God is communication throughout our day.  Each time you think of your spouse or children or parents or friends or enemies throughout the day, say a prayer and ask God to bless them.  Heck, ask God to bless the kid in the vehicle next to you with the booming music or the lady with the screaming child 2 tables away at the restaurant and every one else who crosses your path.

Love is prayer.  God is love (1 John 4:8).  They cannot be separated.