Life’s Bright Spots
"Men see not the bright light which is in the clouds." -- Job 37:21
If there is only one sunshiny spot on the floor, the dog will find that spot and curl up on it. In that respect the dog shows better sense than some people. Some people never see the sunshiny spots in life, but only the dark spots. And these dark spots are about all they think about and talk about.
Someone said to an old man: "You are on the shady side of seventy, are you not?" "No," he replied, "I am on the sunny side, for I am on the side nearest to glory."
I like people who see life’s bright spots and magnify them. I like to meet the kind of people who take an optimistic view of every situation, and who are not easily upset by the cares and perplexities of life. They have the same kind of effect on me as the chirping birds on a spring morning.
We all know people who are optimists of temperament. They always seem to think they are lucky, and they like to tell you about their good luck.
I wonder if, really, the people who are so conscious of their good luck are more lucky than the rest of us? I rather believe that their luck, as they call it, is not at all out of the ordinary, but that they have a quicker eye for it.
The difference between a happy person and an unhappy person is not always in their circumstances, which may be very much alike, but in the persons themselves.
It is really a great gift to be able to see the bright side of things—to be able to see "the bright light which is in the clouds." The light is there, and if we never see it the fault is somewhere in ourselves. When life looks out of focus, there is certainly something wrong with our eyes or our spectacles.
Life is very much what we make of it, and what we make of it is a consequence of how we look at it. We see in life what we expect to see, not much more and not much less. Those who are looking for what is bad will find it surely enough, but they will miss the good that is there too, though they do not notice it.
Some people live in constant dread of evil; they are always waiting for the very worst to happen. And thus they make of life a nightmare. That in itself is bad enough, but, in addition to it, their dreads predispose them to the very ills that they long to escape.
Pessimism distorts our vision, and thus darkens the sky of our lives. Life would be easier for us, and happier, if we had a deeper sense of what is good in it, with a corresponding gratitude to God.
Be an optimist, brother. Look for life’s bright spots. Life has its clouds, but look beyond the clouds to the silver lining behind them. Things may not be going so well with you, but they could go worse. They have gone better, and ahead, they can go better again. So, think of the brighter day ahead, and cheer up. Get yourself into a brighter mood, and that will help you to brighten up your situation.
Life has its troubles. We need to have some troubles to make us appreciate our blessings.
"Thank God for one who is cheerful
In spite of life’s troubles, I say,
Who sings of a brighter tomorrow
Because of the clouds of today."
