Day 66.

Evangelist D. L. Moody was once asked, “Which people have given you the most trouble?” To which he replied, “I have had more trouble with Dwight L Moody than any man alive” Believe it LIFE IS ONE LONG OBSTACLE RACE WITH OURSELVES AS THE CHIEF OBSTACLE and we can change our whole life and attitude to the people around us by changing ourselves. The most significant battles are waged within ourselves. Our greatest battles are against our own flaws and failures, but these are not excuses to quit, we need to keep moving forward.

There’s a great movie version of Victor Hugo’s “Les Misérables”. There’s a tremendous Christian message on forgiveness. The main character Jean Valjean at one time says, “It’s nothing to die. It is an awful thing to have never lived.” yet that is what it is like for people who bury themselves in life’s troubles and their own flaws. The circumstances of life, the events of life and the people around me do not make me the way I am, but reveal the way I am. That’s just another way of saying life is not what happens to you but what you do with what happens to you. A crisis does not produce character it simply reveals it.

Here’s another one of my philosophies of life. We are not responsible for the actions of others, but we are responsible for our reactions. So, change yourself and your world changes! The best way to change yourself is to turn your attention away from yourself by helping others. I have observed this to be true over the years. Many people who struggle with chronic problems do so because they think only of themselves. Have you ever noticed that generous people are rarely mentally ill? It is a known fact that self-absorption produces negative thinking and mental illness. Helping others is the best cure for life’s difficulties. Zig Ziglar said “we will get everything we want in life when we help enough people to get what they want.”

I once said to a person who was weighted down with life’s frustrations and struggles “go and stand in the cemetery and ask yourself In the light of eternity does it matter because where they are you will soon be.” That person was me. Most of us think we are more important than we are. When we die and the eulogy is given and the “nice” stories are told, they put us in a hole, throw some dirt on our face and 20 minutes later the most important thing on their minds is where to find the potato salad!

Did you know that laughter also breeds resilience? They say laughter is the shortest distance between 2 people. Your reaction to the circumstances of life has everything to do with your well-being.