What’s your view? All of my life, I have been a Pollyanna. I have always been able to somehow see the good in things. As I have gotten older, I realize that my rose-colored view stems from something I have almost always had: hope. We all struggle. We all go through things. We all experience loss. What remains, what survives, what sustains is hope.
I have so much to be thankful for, and in the big scheme of things, my worst day hardly compares to that of another. Have you ever just paused to think of what you are thankful for? Maybe I can help. Do you know Jesus? He is my savior, my rock, my provider, my sustainer, my healer, my deliverer, my comfort, my joy, my hope, my all. He has blessed me with the most incredible family, friends and life. My glass isn’t just half full, it is overflowing. When I think about the greatness of our God, I am so humbled and abounding in unspeakable joy that he would choose me. I am just one person out of all the people in the world. I am just this one fairly insignificant being, but to God, I am reason enough for a savior. Do you know him?
I know that my heart is filled with gratitude, because my heart belongs first to the giver of life. This doesn’t mean that all is right with the world, but all is right within my soul. Crazy times are going to come, and less-than-perfect people will fill our lives and cross our paths, because we are all human. Our experiences and life events can be disappointing or even devastating. However, God uses every bit to shape our lives, develop our character, strengthen our resolve, and grow our faith and trust in him along the way, but we first have to entrust our hearts and lives to him.
God doesn’t need us to tell him what is on our hearts, the happenings of days, our victories or even the trials that we face. He is God, after all. But he wants us to come to him. He longs to hear our voices and for us to share our lives with him. He wants us to choose him, and in return the peace that passes understanding will guard our hearts.
By entering through faith into what God has always wanted to do for us—set us right with him, make us fit for him—we have it all together with God because of our Master Jesus. And that’s not all: We throw open our doors to God and discover at the same moment that he has already thrown open his door to us. We find ourselves standing where we always hoped we might stand—out in the wide-open spaces of God’s grace and glory, standing tall and shouting our praise. There’s more to come: We continue to shout our praise even when we’re hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we’re never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary—we can’t round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!
— Romans 5:1–5 MSG
Let the peace of Christ keep you in tune with each other, in step with each other. None of this going off and doing your own thing. And cultivate thankfulness. Let the Word of Christ—the Message—have the run of the house. Give it plenty of room in your lives. Instruct and direct one another using good common sense. And sing, sing your hearts out to God! Let every detail in your lives—words, actions, whatever—be done in the name of the Master, Jesus, thanking God the Father every step of the way.
— Colossians 3:15–17 MSG