Mastering Attitudes – Making Peace

If you were to construct a definition of happiness, what would you include? Would your definition include only what you’ve experienced or what you would like to experience? It's difficult to admit the role we play in creating our own unhappiness, so we blame others for our despair. What about believing we bear no responsibility for someone else’s happiness?

What contributes to an overall sense of happiness is being able to have mastery over the good and bad events we experience. Mastery does not rule out what is unpredictable or uncontrollable but does embrace managing one's life so that the effects of unhappy events can be limited.

Happiness derives from learning how to sidestep negative situations. At this level of awareness and insight, we realize attitudes and behaviors can be changed. With anger and blaming diminished, making peace can become a reality. "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons and daughters of God." What a wonderful blessing Jesus has secured for you. 

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Happy are those who work for peace; God will call them his children!

~Matthew 5:9 Good News Bible

So then we eagerly go after the things which mean peace and by which we help one another grow. 
~Romans 14:19 Beck – New  Testament in the Language of Today

Turn away from evil and do good; strive for peace with all your heart.
~Psalm 34:14 Good News Bible

Expect Something Good!

A temptation we often face is to do nothing. In prison Joseph could have settled for doing the bare minimum, but his character would not permit it. He believed something good would be forthcoming from every bad, stressful situation. If you fail to expect something good, it may pass you by unnoticed, so be alert!

Joseph looked for opportunities to help others, so when two inmates were acting discouraged, he asked them to explain. They responded by saying there was no one to interpret their dreams. They believed dreams foretold the future. Interpreting dreams belongs to God, so Joseph was available to understand and relate what God would reveal.

Joseph believed discovering God’s purpose was possible even in deplorable surroundings. He had this gift for possessing a positive attitude in appalling conditions because his faith and trust in God were strong and true. Ask God to instill in you such a disposition. Are you willing to accept what God provides? It’s a good choice.  

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I know that God lives – the one who gives me back my life – and eventually he’ll take his stand on earth. And I’ll see him – even though I get skinned alive! – see God myself, with my very own eyes. Oh, how I long for that day!

~Job 19:25-27 The Message

Tolerance Needed? Commitment Required!

Being forced to tolerate undesirable situations is one of the most difficult tasks we’ll have to endure. Joseph consistently exhibited resilience as troubles incessantly plagued his life. Joseph's personality made it possible for him to seek God’s purpose in each situation he had to tolerate. This was his choice.

He refused to give up because he knew nothing could negate God’s purpose for him, as Genesis 39:20 indicates. "While Joseph was in prison, the Lord was with him. God showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden." Once again, hardships could not prevent God’s purpose from being realized. Why not?

Joseph was completely committed to God. He behaved according to his integrity. He was ready to help other people. Listen to Matthew 25:40. "Even as you have been a blessing to the least of these my people, you have been a blessing to me." Can you imagine yourself following Joseph’s example and Jesus’ reassuring words?   

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“When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me.”

Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, “When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?”

The king will answer, “Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me.”

~Matthew 25:35-40 Contemporary English Version