Is Your Bag Empty?

I seldom saw Sara smile. She went about her job day-in and day-out without skipping a beat. Walking toward her, I never knew what she was thinking. She had perfected a cool, imperturbable manner that revealed nothing about her true feelings and made her hard to fathom. I decided that I was going to make it my daily goal to make her laugh out loud at work. You need to understand that up to this point I had never heard her laugh or even express the slightest amusement. It took many days before I was able to get my first out-loud laugh out of Sara. When she finally did, it made me laugh with joy and my laughter encouraged her to laugh louder. From that point on, although I wasn't able to get a response out of her every day, it began to happen more and more regularly.

To get Sara to laugh, I needed to get to know her and to be interested in what she liked and didn’t like. I found out that Sara had a crush on one of the men at our workplace, so I encouraged her to pursue her desires. As a result, Sara started to smile more and more. People began to interact with her because she wasn’t always looking down and frowning. Throughout this time, Sara herself initiated some changes. Unbeknownst to anyone, she joined Jenny Craig and slowly began to lose a bunch of weight. She had a make-over and started to wear make-up, got her hair cut into a new, attractive style, and with her new slimmer shape, she needed a new wardrobe. It would be great to be able to tell you that this all had a fairy-tale ending and that Sara and the focus of her crush ended up together, but such is not the case. The young man turned out to be very shallow and could only see himself with a tall, long legged blond. However, taking into consideration what he himself had to offer, perhaps there is some justice in the fact that this didn't happen for him and still hasn’t happened.

Now, not for a moment is the point of this story that because I encouraged her to laugh everyday her life changed. Sara needed to discover what was important to her, what she wanted for herself, and then to start moving toward whatever that was. It happened that God allowed me to be there at the time she was ready to make some changes and I was able to encourage her to understand that she has value, just because she is who she is. Sara needed to grab hold of that fact. Because she was willing to look at her life and make some changes, she found her joy inside.

You may need to think about this quote from Benjamin Franklin for a second, but the point is a good one: “It is hard for an empty bag to stand upright.” Is your bag empty because you haven’t taken the time to realize your joy?

Gratitude is a Choice

Albert Barnes said, “We can always find something to be thankful for, and there may be reasons why we ought to be thankful for even those dispensations which appear dark and frowning.”

The poem that follows, entitled, Blessed is the Man Who is Driven to His Knees in Prayer, by E. M. Bounds (from "The Complete Works of E M Bounds on Prayer" pages 104-107) states it well.
Trials must and will befall,
But with humble faith to see
Love inscribed upon them all –
This is happiness to me.

Trials make the promise sweet,
Trials give new life to prayer;
Bring me to my savior’s feet,
Lay me low, and keep me there.

Blessing in disguise!

O who could bear life’s stormy doom,
Did not the wing of love
Come brightly wafting through the gloom,
Our peace branch from above?

Then sorrow touched by Thee grows bright,
With more than rapture’s ray,
As darkness shows us a world of light
We never saw by day.

Unburdening the heart in grief?

O Thou who driest the mourner’s tear,
How dark this world would be
If, when deceived and wounded here,
We could not fly to Thee.

The friends who in our sunshine live,
When winter comes are flown;
And he who has but tears to give
Must weep those tears alone.

But Thou wilt heal the broken heart
Where live the plants that throw
Their fragrance from the wounded part,
Breathe sweetness out of woe.

Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because he has known My name. He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him and honor him. ~Psalms 91:14-15

I’m sure you are familiar with the axiom, “Attitude of Gratitude.” It’s an excellent way to express the notion that we need to live every day in a specific manner. Gratitude is a choice. With it as the main ingredient in your life, you will be blessed and will be a blessing to others. Remember, blessings come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes it’s the small, seemingly insignificant things which, seen in perspective, may come to mean the most to you. Every need, even the smallest unspoken one, is important to God. Ask the Lord to show you a sign of His good for you today. Start by purposefully looking for examples of His nearness and care for you in your daily life. Once you begin this practice of seeking, you’ll be amazed at how often you sense His loving presence and detect tokens of His constant care for you!
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