Thursday, January 31, 2013

How are We to Become Bitter or Better People

I don't want to be a bitter person.  I want to be a better person. I have been around some negative and bitter people.  While I don't see myself as being bitter, yet, I've definately been negative.  I often wonder, will I become bitter if I become sick, or when I experience loss or when I become so old I've lost enjoyment in life?  I don't want to be. 
So how do I prevent it? I like what C.S. Lewis said "faith is the art of holding on to things in spite of your changing moods and circumstances."
How do you keep your faith in the midst of loss, depression, sickness, growing old?  I believe it's by talking to God.  Really, really praying through the hard times.  When you don't feel it, keep believing it.
I've also met some very positive people who amaze me at their tenacity.  My husband's grandma comes to mind.  She is 94 years young.  When you ask her how she is, she shrugs her shoulders and says, "why complain, what good does it do?"  She is right.  Complaining may unburden you for awhile but it also slips into your spirit and makes you weaker. 
I don't imagine myself being someone who fights hard to live when life gets tough.  I don't imagine myself being a gracious old person.  I often worry as I grow old and see love ones die, my body fail me, and my memory slip away that I'll be a grumpy old person.  I don't want to be that so I must keep in constant communion with Jesus.
I seen such strength in my mom.  I didn't recognize it when I was young.  But she was a young widow at 51.  She raised me by herself, she always had a heart for others, she had a positive outlook.  Then she spent many years alone.  But she wasn't truly alone because she had a constant companion.  She had a friend always present to listen to her cries.  She had Jesus. 
I hope if there is anything that gets me through this sometimes joyous and sometimes painful life, it will be my faith in Christ.
"Behold I am with you always.  Even until the end of the world" Matthew 28:20

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