THE ninety two year-old, petite, well-poised and proud lady after many hours of waiting patiently in the lobby of the nursing home, smiled sweetly when told her room was ready. “I love it,” she stated with the enthusiasm of an eight-year-old having just been presented with a new puppy. “Mrs. Jones, you haven’t seen the room… just wait.”
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she replied. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. Whether I like my room or not doesn’t depend on how the furniture is arranged… it’s how I arrange my mind. I already decided to love it… “It’s a decision I make every morning when I wake up. I have a choice; I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or get out of bed and be thankful to God for the ones that do. Each day is God’s gift, and as long as my eyes open I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away … just for this time in my life.
When John Wesley who had been joyous, energetic and effective even in his 88th year was dying, he suddenly sat up, looked at the people weeping at his bedside and said, “Best of all, God is with us…!”
Whereas Mark Twain, morose and weary with life well before he died at 75, wrote, “A myriad of men are born; they labour and sweat and struggle for bread; they squabble and scold and fight;… age creeps upon them; infirmities follow;.. those they love are taken from them, and the joy of life is turned to aching grief, till release comes at last – the only unpoisoned gift earth had for them – and they vanish from a world where they are of no consequence; .. a world which will lament them a day and forget them forever..!
How different are the thoughts of the old lady, John Wesley and Mark Twain. The old lady was blind, had lost her husband and yet walked into her new room with a smile. She had God by her side who had arranged her mind into that of joy at whatever the day ahead held for her. So also with John Wesley as he faced death, he had preached God to thousands and as he lay dying he knew that the ‘best of all was that his God was with him’. But famous Mark Twain who through life had entertained readers with his stories and humour, looked at death as a welcome relief from a weary life!
I wonder how you’ve arranged your mind for today dear reader? The choice is yours entirely. Nothing that happens today can upset or trouble you if you have already made your ‘arrangement’ with the one who walks by your side..!
