Responsible

“I am responsible. Although I may not be able to prevent the worst from happening, I am responsible for my attitude toward the inevitable misfortunes that darken life. Bad things do happen; how I respond to them defines my character and the quality of my life. I can choose to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of my loss, or I can choose to rise from the pain and treasure the most precious gift I have - life itself.”
Walter Anderson

We all wish we could somehow prevent anything bad from happening. We want a guarantee that we will be happy because we will have circumstances that please us. But that’s not the way the world works. God can’t please everyone all the time. Sometimes people have conflicting desires, and giving one person the circumstances they want would make the other person unhappy with their circumstances. Sometimes things have to happen that please nobody, such as this recession.

What is really important is not what happens to you but how you react to it. You always have a choice whether to make the best of the circumstances you find yourself in, or the worst. You always have a choice of complaining and blaming, or of doing something to improve the situation. You always have a choice of how you see the situation, as God punishing you or as just something that happened. You always have a choice as to whether to sit in perpetual sadness, immobilized by the gravity of your loss, or to rise from the pain and treasure life itself.

Joy comes from knowing that you can deal with whatever life gives you, not from always having the circumstances you want. Character comes from coping with bad things, not from never having anything bad to cope with. A better quality of life comes from being empowered to deal with whatever circumstances you find yourself surrounded by.