All people have struggles. All people have fears. All people have regrets. There are no exceptions. Your attitude is not about how smooth the seas are, but about who is piloting your ship.
One of my favorite advertisements was by Nationwide Insurance. One of their commercials had a theme “Life comes at your fast.” In one of those commercials, a guy parks his beautiful new car. Within seconds someone backs into it, paint is spilled on it, lightning strikes a tree near it and part of the tree falls on the car. “Life comes at your fast,” they said. Things go wrong – for someone. Life is not about circumstances it is about what you do with those circumstances.
One poet put it this way:
I was regretting the past and fearing the future
Suddenly my Lord was speaking.
“My name is I Am” He paused.
I waited. He continued.
“When you live in the past, with its mistakes and regrets,
It is hard – I am not there.
My name is not “I Was.”
“When you live in the future, with its problems and fears.,
It is hard – I am not there.
“My name is not ‘I Will Be.’”
When you live in this moment, it is not hard,
I am here – My name is ‘I Am.’”
‘The circumstances of life come and go, but we must learn to live above the circumstances. Learning this skill may take a long time, but in the end, it is the only way we can have peace and joy.
One more thing. The difference between David the giant killer and the cowering soldier around him, was that David saw the giant through the eyes of God. The soldier could only see the giant.
David lived above his circumstances.
Lonnie Davis