There will always be difficult and even painful circumstances in life that we simply cannot change. This includes some people who are the way they are and are not likely to change just to please us. To not recognize this fact is to jeopardize our joy in Christ and allow these unchangeable things to make us miserable. How we deal with the unchangeable things of life often affects the quality of life. Such negatives can create a destructive pessimism.
Joyful people are optimistic people. Optimism is crucial to our joy in life. "Glory ye in his holy name: Let the heart of them rejoice that seek Jehovah" (Psalm 105:3). I'm not referring to a Pollyanna-type of mindset that ignores the difficult realities of life. And I'm not suggesting we should say everything is wonderful when it clearly is not. But we must accept and deal with life as it's handed to us. We must find a productive and positive way to handle our relationships with difficult people and situations. When the facts won't budge, you have to bend your attitude to fit them.
Did you ever notice that smiling is one of the first things that babies learn to do? Someone has said, "An optimist laughs to forget, a pessimist forgets to laugh." The most obvious sign of an optimist is a warm, genuine smile. But the opposite is also true. Smiling makes us feel better and helps us have a better outlook. Someone else said, "We don't smile because we're happy - we're happy because we smile." Try it, you'll like it!
Whether we are optimistic or pessimistic can have a profound affect upon many aspects of our life. For instance, many studies show that optimistic people are healthier people. Even placebos (sugar pills) work 30-60 percent of the time because people expect them to work. Such optimism of expecting the best can affect our health. Pessimists, on the other hand, seem to have less resistance to disease, so they get sick more often.
Our attitude also affects us socially. Hopeful, joyful, optimistic people are just more fun to be around. They're friendlier, so they have more friends. Optimistic people out produce their pessimistic counterpart in the business world. In fact, optimistic people do better than equally talented pessimists no matter what the field. I'm convinced this is particularly important when we try to work in the vineyard of the Lord. It is our joy in Christ that others will find attractive and will cause them to want to be in Christ just as we are. And so Paul can say, "Rejoice in the Lord always: again I will say, Rejoice."
~In Gospel Power, Anderson, Alabama, 5/9/99.