As anyone who has followed my attempts here on Out of the Woodwork knows, I try to keep a positive attitude about life in general. Understand, it's not a matter of overlooking the bad stuff that seems to happen. It is instead being appreciative for what is and making an attempt to improve things where that is possible. One of the ways we can do that is to check now and again to see if, because of the way we live, anything is better than it might have otherwise been. Having been blessed with two sons, I get a chance to check out pretty regularly what they are up to and wonder what my influence may have brought about. This is tricky stuff. Much of what the boys, if 40 plus year olds are considered boys, have become has not so much to do with me as to the decisions they have made. Never the less, they watched me for clues and there's the genetics thing that may have had some influence.
When I consider all the potential places where my sons could have gotten off track and gone in directions that I would call undesirable, I feel doubly blessed. We're not talking about perfection here. Perfection is in another realm. As I consider how things have turned out, it seems obvious that somewhere, some how being appreciative for what they have and being unselfish with it has steered much of their decision making. So, just like Dad, they recognize that things don't always go the way you think they should. But along with that comes the realization that embracing life is too important to concentrate on the negative stuff. Something that has been helpful to me in this matter of positiveness and that I would hope the good folks who might be reading this would find helpful is this piece of truth from the greatest truth teller ever. In the Book of John, Jesus tells us,"In this world you will have tribulation. But be of good cheer, for I have overcome this world." So friends, be of good cheer. The bad stuff will always be in the world, but we've been promised something beyond and better than this world.
