The Good Side
What do you see? Do you realize that you have a choice about what you focus on?
Verse of the Day
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever.”
“Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time.”
Today’s Devotional
Read the first verse above again. And again. Give thanks to the Lord for he is good! His love endures forever. I’m a firm believer that what is repeated is important. In a quick search, I found these exact words used once in 1 Chronicles and five times in the Psalms. God clearly want to remind us to give thanks. He even helps us out with our first gratitude: we should be grateful for the never-ending love that God has for us.
Next, one of the things I am grateful for is the way God continues to teach me. The following story is a “parable” that God gave me last year. I don’t think I could count how many times I have thought about this story since I wrote about it first. It has changed the way I choose to see things (most of the time). I hope it resonates with you the way it continues to resonate with me.
I want you to imagine two people standing in a room. Let’s call them John and Jane. They are back to back, so they can see opposite sides of the room. On one side of this room there is all manner of chaos and problems. It is a mess. Every problem you can think of in this world can be seen on this side of the room. This is what Jane can see.
John, however, can see a different side of the room. The part of the room that John can see is peaceful. It is clean. Every type of joy and pleasantry that you can think of can be seen on this side of the room. There are rainbows and puppies. You get the idea.
At the place where the chaotic side and peaceful side meet, there is a blurry overlap. You can’t exactly tell where one stops and the other starts. It is a gradual fade from bad to good, or good to bad.
John and Jane are in the same room. Do you think they are having the same experience?
At one point, John asks Jane, “Can you see the beauty that I see? This is amazing.” Jane responds quickly, “I know that all of that good stuff is over there, but I have to keep my eye on all of the problems over here. I have to make sure nothing gets worse. I need to know if something has to be handled. Can’t you see everything that’s happening over here?”
John responds, “I can’t see it, but I know it is there. It will always be there. And when one of the bad things has to be handled, I handle it. And then I keep looking at this side of the room. For me, it’s better that way. If you want to, Jane, you could always turn around so you can see what I see.”
So what does my little story have to with today’s verse? We are told over and over to give thanks. Why? Because God is good. And because He loves us with a never-ending love. My proposal to you today is that giving thanks is what allows us to see the good side of this life. Both the good and the bad will always be there. We each get to choose what we see and focus our attention on. When we choose to be grateful, when we seek out things to be grateful for, we are allowing ourselves to see the good side. The less grateful I choose to be, the more I allow myself to worry, fret, and control, the more I am focused on the bad side of life.
Some people are more prone to see the good. The opposite is also true, that some people see the bad more easily than others. No matter which way you are wired, I believe gratitude and trust help us to turn – little by little – to where our focus is on the good side of life. Perhaps intentionally choosing to be grateful each day turns the focus of our heart to be able to see the beauty that has always been there.
Today’s specific gratitude challenge is this: what is something that you find beautiful that you are grateful for? The verse in Ecclesiastes tells us God made everything beautiful in its own time (or in its own way). What each of us finds beautiful might be different, but the fact that some things are beautiful to you is a gift from God. My husband loves sunsets and sunrises. He is grateful every time he gets to see and experience the majesty of the sun rising or setting. Every time we see beauty is an opportunity to give heartfelt gratitude to God.
As with all directives given by God, we get to choose whether or not to obey. Today, I want to see the good side, so I will choose to be grateful. And when I see something beautiful, I will choose to give God my thanks for the beauty he allowed me to see and experience. What will you choose?
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Are you focused more on the good side of life today, or the bad?
How can you actively obey God’s command to be grateful today?
How can you show God that you know He is good?
How can you accept God’s never-ending love for you today?
Which side of this life do you choose?
What is something that you find beautiful? How can you thank God for that thing/person/place/experience today?