I have noticed the life, vocabulary, and behavior of people who know they are blessed is defined by words like, thankful, grateful, peaceful, hopeful and joyful. The common thread in these words is the suffix attached to each noun, “ful.” It means to be full of something.
In a crass use of our language someone may say, “Oh, he’s full of it!” The “it” is not a positive definition of the person being defined rather it is a way to say someone is not honest, truthful or genuine.
How do we arrive at a place where our lives are defined by thankfulness, gratefulness, peacefulness, hopefulness, and joyfulness? It is the result of having disciplined our thought life. A negative experience may take place and instead of allowing our life, vocabulary, and behavior to follow that negative experience and pull the drain plug on our faith leaving us empty and in despair, we make a different choice. We can choose to redirect the effects of these painful experiences and demand they come under the influence of our greater reality in Christ.
Not one of us who follows Jesus Christ has a legitimate reason to allow our lives to be defined by anything other than filled with the 5 examples I listed in the first paragraph. The world we live in wants to drown us in painful definitions to the point that we are submerged in despair. The end of that sorrowful journey is an empty soul. You were destined to live a full life no matter what pain your encounter. In the pain, choose to be full.
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