Light on a cloudy day

Thinking today that there are lots of opportunities to be gloomy. It's pretty chilly outside right now and overcast. I am currently unemployed and have been for 8 months. My wife is sick right now and I am having to nag her to go to the doctor and there are lots of little things that can easily get me down. Today I have decided to forgo the pleasure of being miserable.

I say pleasure because there is a certain sense steadiness in being sad. You don't really expect much of yourself and if others know you're your down they tend to not expect much of you either. It saves you a lot of trouble and effort if there are no real expectations either from inside or outside. Kind of comforting actually. However, that comfort is a myth.

The real problem is that nothing gets done. The doldrums that come with active sadness cause a spiral of increasing inactivity and a sense of lack of accomplishment that perpetuates the spiral so that eventually you wake up one morning and realize that a lot of your life has passed you by and you have nothing to show for living. That is not a pleasant revelation and yes, I speak from personal experience. Here's is what I have discovered.

We all have sadness, we all suffer from despair and we all deal with painful situations. No one is immune. No one gets a free ride in the pain department. No matter how "charmed" a life someone may seem to lead, we all have problems. It's how we deal with them that describes who we are and what we are made of. God gave us the tools to persevere, despite our hardships. We just have to make decisions to use those tools and get on with living. The choice we have to make is whether we will use those tools. The choice has to be made daily, and sometimes even hourly but it is a choice we make...and not choosing is a choice since the result is usually staying put in our misery.

Today I have decided to choose to spread a little light. I have it in me. I was born with it in abundance (praise God!) and now I just need to let it out. A smile or a kind word really does not take a lot of effort and it might just change someones day. That's my choice today...how about you?