Check Your Outlook

“Positive anything is better than negative nothing.”

—ELBERT HUBBARD

My trust and assured reliance and confident hope shall be fixed in Him.

—Hebrews 2:13

What is your outlook on life? With what mind-set do you approach life? I want to remind you of something I said earlier in this book—our problem isn’t life itself; it is our approach to living that causes us the most difficulty. Two people can have the same problem and one will be happy while the other is depressed and miserable. This tells me what’s wrong isn’t the problem itself; it’s the way the problem is viewed—the approach—that’s the difference.

Our approach to life is our own decision, and nobody can make us miserable if we decide we are going to be happy. If someone we know makes a bad choice, that does not mean we have to be miserable. Perhaps I have done my best in a situation, but a friend is still angry and dissatisfied. Does their bad attitude mean I now have to lose my joy? No, of course not! But I will have to decide not to let them steal my joy or they will. They decide how they will approach life, and I must also. They may decide to believe the worst, but I can still decide to believe the best. It does not take a genius to know which one of us is going to be happy and enjoy life.

Let me ask again—what is your outlook on life? Are you positive, always believing the best, and ready to show mercy and forgiveness to those who hurt you? Or are you depressed, discouraged, and discontent because everything didn’t go the way you hoped? Pick your battles wisely and you will enjoy a life of simplicity. It is easier to have a positive outlook than it is to have a negative one.