Have you ever had so much joy in your heart you were just about to burst, but yet you know that you still have to remain humble and pragmatic? But also you figure the best person to talk to about your joy would be to send it straight up to the big cheese Himself?
Well, that’s happening. Right now. As I prepare to brush my teeth and go to sleep, I sent up a little friendly warning to God with a big grin–“You’re about to get a long talkin’ to, so you’d better buckle your seatbelt!”
I’ve had a busy week. Through the bedlam that is my life, you lack the insight into my formula– the method to the madness if you will. Within all this, I’ve been reading a book by Joel Osteen. Very slowly, I should make ostensible. Some of you know who I am and I don’t do anything slow– eat, walk, talk, breathe and yes…even read. But as I notice every new topic Mr. Joel discusses, I find myself gnashing on every lesson as if this book was solely intended for me. Well sir, you found me. Or I found you, only about a couple years later than the original publish date. Nonetheless you’ve got my attention and I promise you that I’m enjoying every word– jabs to my heart as they seem but whoever said the truth was supposed to feel like being smacked upside the head with a cloud?
Thus I’m on the new topic in this book, Everyday A Friday and I’m certainly putting together his tangible evidence that we can control our happiness in every second of the day. A month ago you could’ve struck me with the words “Just be happy, nothing is ever as bad as it seems” and I’d have probably used every gesture and innuendo to dispel such callous advice. Now I get it! “Clear as mud” as my adopted mom would declare.
I’m going to assume this happens to all of us–at least those of us with a pulse. Sometimes I can walk around and see the bad in everything. But am I searching for the good? Am I dwelling on such negativeness that it’s masked me from listening to what my heart really wants? Am I on the right path? Is God listening? Am I worthy? Am I handsome? Is anyone really listening to me? Do I matter? Does it matter that I matter? All but the latter shouldn’t be given any more brainwaves. What matters is that WE matter each and every single day. We may not matter to others, but that’s only as worth a grain of sugar in a whole field of cane. We matter to Jesus… The Son of God. And that’s worth more than twenty football fields of sugarcane. Hey, be proud of me. For he who lacketh interest in sports, sure can useth such metaphors! (see: Don’t look that up in the bible; #ItDoesntExist)
What it boils down to is misguided focus. As Joel Osteen explains (thus far in a nutshell) is that life is 10 percent action and 90 percent reaction. To paraphrase further, “We can’t control everything in life but we have the control over how we respond to everything.” It’s these simple morals drowning on every page that I find myself clinging to in order to get the most benefit out of reading his book. I never once did this to a Dean Koontz or Alex Kava novel. (Quite rightly, I wanted to get further faster so I knew what happened on the next page.) But this is different and for good reason. It means that God’s wanting me to take time and let it sink in… and I know God’s waited for me to read this for two years. Just as a cold wind blows to the east of The Rockies this bitter October night, I’m assured in the fact He’s applied every scenario thus far in Joel’s book to my daily life. End result? Pure brilliance (on all facets). The advice is not only simple everyday lessons we should have remembered and learned as kids (exceedingly mundane to most) but it’s also enriched my life. And friends I’m only on Page 26 for crying out loud!
Every day (those days that my disease hasn’t taken control of walking too far away from my bathroom) I pace into the workplace with a sinking feeling in my gut. This is gonna be terrible day. Look at this stack of faxes that haven’t been sent to the doctor’s offices. Look at how many scripts are left to still be filled. Ugh… It’s already 9 o clock? You mean I have to raise the windows up and start helping these ungrateful people? But I don’t think that anymore. And you shouldn’t either (even if you don’t work in a pharmacy you could flex any of this to suit your occupation. Now I wake up and send up a huge thanks to The Almighty. After all, He’s in charge of all. And He’s mightier than any of our issues here on His land. Usually by the time 10 o clock rolls around I’d be begging and pleading for a grip of sanity. Is it lunchtime yet? For having an hour of pure bliss away from the craziness that is for all intents and purposes purgatory with air conditioning, surely I’d regain enough stamina to withstand another four hours. I work with some pretty interesting people. I used to think of some of them like schoolyard bullies that get paid hourly to make me miserable. But I revert back to handy dandy Osteen– “When you allow what someone says or does to upset you, you’re allowing that person to control you.” Now I’ve given up the ghost on retaliating with my disparaging thoughts. Now I’d rather return in the same loving-kindness that Jesus would do. Well, okay let’s not go that far. I’m a germ-a-phobic and I’m not washing any feet. However I do smile back and just say, “Okay!” “Thanks so much for letting me know!” “How thoughtful of you to care so passionately about that.” “I value your input.”
Just today I returned from break where I’d sat inside the McDonald’s. Right now they’re running the annual Monopoly game and you betcha I’m collecting my properties like Noah did animals of all species. I’d won a couple free menu items that really don’t amount to much satisfaction on my part, I’d rather share in the joy of winning something for free and hand out the stamps to others. Today was a test that I’m sure God struck into me like a bolt of lightning. I pulled out a free medium fries and a free breakfast sandwich. As I walked back into Dante’s arctic inferno, I handed out the fry stamp to one coworker and told them they deserved to have a great lunch and now they could enjoy some free French fries courtesy of Mr. Monopoly-Man. But then onto Debbie downer… I knew what their response would be and I was right. I’d planned on handing it to my friend who bounces between two divisions of the building as a backup because I knew that ingratitude would shun away my offer of an amazingly free gooey McGriddle– and sure enough they frowned in the impetuous scoff as if they were above the awesome 500 calories wrapped in a thin brown piece of wax paper. Max Lucado hit the nail on the head when he said in his book Before Amen: “Nothing silences grumps like gratitude.”
Moral of this lesson brought to you by the two big authors in Christian non-fiction and my deliberately fast typing fingers? Well I can only speak for myself, but I’d hope you all find it in your hearts to try it too. I’m going to continue tackling adversity with a compliment. I will smile at darkness, for God’s light will shine out from the nooks of my expression and all will be alright. They don’t call it a “sunny disposition” for nothing. Sun means light. Disposition is broken into the latin prefix dis which means ‘to arrange’ when put together it means ‘to put arrangement of character.’
And that’s all he wrote… for at least tonight since I have to work in the morning– correction… I get to work tomorrow!
The Heart Mechanic 