I just returned from travelling overseas to Scotland and Ireland. It was a good trip and we managed to travel to different places and see family and friends with little or no trouble, although my luggage decided to stay in Amsterdam the weekend before coming home. 聽On the trip however, we crossed paths on a couple of occasions with folk who were not travelling well. 聽On both occasions, it was what they brought to the situation that caused the problems:聽 Their attitude towards the situation and the people who were trying to help. 聽The problems I saw these individuals facing were small in the scheme of things. 聽One was a man getting angry over not being able to find a seat in a half empty restaurant. He was yelling at the hostess for no reason at all. 聽The other was a man who could not get his passport to scan and was fighting with the machine and the person who was attempting to help. 聽When we are overwhelmed by the little things then we are unable to face the more important things and the decisions we have to make.
How are we to deal with the major issues that we face each day? 聽How are we to face the challenges that come from within and without? 聽How are we to face those things that we seemingly have no control over? 聽How does our faith and hope prepare us for each day?
A few years ago, I facilitated a workshop called 鈥淭he Trauma of Change.鈥� 聽I worked with a couple of social workers who came from a faith-based perspective. 聽At the end of the day they said the reason many people survive and sometimes even flourish during difficult times in their lives is because of attitude. 聽By attitude they meant their approach to those things they had to face, their approach to other people. 聽They led with their positive foot and not their negative one.聽Jawaharlal Nehru said:聽 聽鈥淲e live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.鈥�
What would happen if we were to cultivate a sense of adventure each day?聽 What would happen if we were to look at each day and the experiences we have each day with excitement and challenge? 聽The journey of each day will bring out the best in us if we have the courage to face each opportunity.聽Each of us has gifts, talents and life experiences that we bring to every situation. 聽How can we use all of these attributes to navigate through each day, bringing out the best in ourselves and each person we were to meet?聽 聽It is my belief that we must cultivate a sense of adventure which is founded in our attitudes that we bring to each day.聽 Barak Obama said;:聽 鈥淐hange will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. 聽We are the ones we've been waiting for. 聽We are the change that we seek.鈥�
In his teachings to the crowds that followed him Jesus speaks about attitude.聽 聽He was showing them how to bring a sense of adventure into everything they did. 聽We know these as the Beatitudes. 聽聽In essence, however, they are guidelines to face the day and all that is thrown at us. 聽We can find them in the fifth chapter of Matthew鈥檚 Gospel, and they are a good way to begin every day. They speak about humility, peacemaking, justice, mercy and having a good heart. 聽What will your attitude be today?
The Right Reverend Logan McMenamie is the
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This article was published in the print edition of the Times 91原创 on Saturday February 25, 2017
