Acts 11: 23 “Who, when he came, and had seen the
grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they
would cleave unto the Lord.”
Bad Things Happen
Bad things happen to good people, that much we know. What we
do and how we react to these bad things makes all the difference in the world.
I am a known optimist. When something bad happens in my life I know right
around the corner is something better just waiting for me. I see good in everything.
Since I was a child I always saw the Light at the end of the
tunnel. I always have seen a path, right or wrong in situations. While at the
time of something bad happening it is so hard to even see a sliver of light
penetrating the darkness, I held onto hope and faith to get me through.
I seriously think this is a problem for many people. They
have sunken so deep into negativity, they have trouble grasping the light that
is being handed to them, thus staying in the dark and not really ever embracing
the light. No change can happen if you always see the negative (or not so positive) in everything.
A perfect example is the night sky. While many people walk
out the door and see darkness shielding them, I choose to walk out the door and
see the stars piercing through the darkness. When it is cloudy and shielding me
from seeing the stars, I hold onto hope that the clouds will soon disappear. I have
faith that the sun is still out there shining and will break through the clouds.
The realist will say that the sun being there is just a
scientific fact. The pessimist will say the obscurity can go on for days, the
optimist will see the Light no matter how far off the sun may be. I know it is
there; I have faith that it will shine on me and carry me away from any
negative thoughts or feelings.
A realist defined is a person who
tends to view or represent things as they really
are. To them, the stars are just forms of
gases fixed in a space. The Word of God is just words until he/she can have
proof otherwise. Even after they are proven, they need more proof. Think
Thomas, the ‘I need to see the nail holes and put my hands on them’ Thomas; a
witness but never the less, needing even MORE proof.
So where does faith fit into the equation? I hear people say
they HAVE faith but I also hear others say they’ve LOST faith, to me forming a
spectrum of negativity that has no place for the word faith.
Faith is the unknown. Faith is the unseen. Faith is trust in
all that propels us forward. Realism is accepting that you have to be REAL
before you can have faith and pessimism is not accepting anything on the grain
of sand faith stands.
I can bet Thomas was a realist and I can bet Judas was a
pessimist. Take these two characters out of the book and you have men, men who
never embraced the Light which was being given to them freely.
Choices. We all make choices in right or wrong and with that
there are consequences. Don’t blame God if you make the wrong choices. Don’t
blame God if all the good you do isn’t being rewarded with good things. Bad
things happen to good people but it is the CHOICE to see the good in situations
that we optimists are rewarded with good things. I speak from the positively
good things and bad that have happened throughout my life from experience.
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