Have you ever been in a situation where nothing seems to be going on right for you? There are times we feel our world has come to a standstill, where nothing of ours seems to be working, the period I refer to as the hour of struggle. This is the point where you are at the lowest point of your life, the feeling that nothing good can come out of you. When everyone seems to have lost hope in you to the point that you are filled with so much negativity and you are left with no option than to throw in the towel and give up on yourself and everything you have been working to achieve.
But before you do that, wait a minute and ask yourself, what if there is a way to turn things around? As it’s often said, ‘No condition is permanent.’ It is just a matter of time for a present condition to change either for better or for worse depending on our approach to the situation, Ecclesiastes 3:1:4 records
There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens…A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
This is to mean that the condition you find yourself is just temporal and like those before, it shall pass.
This is where the Burnt Toast Principle comes in. It is a principle that teaches us to focus on the good in our life even when we are faced with the worst. It reads; if you wake up one day and your toast is burnt, you can either choose to focus on the burnt toast and have a bad day, or you can choose to focus on the fact that you still have toast and have a good day instead. The choice is yours.
It is certainly true that it is not easy to put up a positive attitude when faced with difficulties, but at least that is the best we can do to hold one’s self up from an already damaging situation. It doesn’t just make us feel okay in the interim but it gives us some confidence to hold one’s self up in anticipation for a brighter day. That is what Job did in the book of Job amidst all the confusion and adversaries he was going through, one thing kept him going, Job said to himself in Job 14:7-9.
At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail. Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil, yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant. (Job 14:7-9)
This statement kept his head high, he pushed and persisted through the challenging times and at the end we saw how God glorified his life in the last chapter of Job (Job 42:7-17). Similarly, we can be like Job, adopt a positive attitude in every situation you go through. Purpose in your heart not to give up on yourself when things don’t go the way you desire it to be. Note this, there is time, seasons and there is also a life-time. Time and seasons are found in a life-time. Purpose and dreams are achieved in time and seasons. Interestingly, God deals with his children in a life-time, and one’s life-time ends when one is dead. This implies that as far as one has life, irrespective of the age and circumstance, purpose and dreams can be achieved. Keep your heads up and high, believe and have faith in God, keep pushing and persist even through the storms and when the time is ripe, the Lord will cause it (dreams, aspirations, purpose) to happen and make everything beautiful.
Strive to live a valued life. God bless you.
if there’s God there’s still hope
Inspirational
Good piece, very much needed