Is Your Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty? (11/25/13)

Is your glass half-full or half-empty? This is a question that generally refers to whether you are an optimist or pessimist. Do you look at life and the good in it? That would be considered half-full. Do you always look to what is missing in life or what can go wrong? That is half-empty. 

With Thanksgiving coming up this coming week, I’ve been thinking about this question in terms of thankfulness. Is your thankful glass half-full or half-empty? Do you look at your life and the good you have experienced with a grateful heart? Do you see the future with hopefulness and appreciate the promise of tomorrow? Then your thankful glass is half-full. Or, when you look at your daily life, do you see mostly what is missing? Can you find a few things to be thankful for, but many other areas in which you feel you are lacking what you want or need? If this is you, your thankful glass is half-empty. Worse yet, it may be totally empty.

Have you ever met someone whose life seems to be full of good, yet all they do is complain? They have a good job and home. Their health and family are all doing well. Yet nothing will make them happy. Then you meet a person who is always hopeful and grateful for every little thing. It seems this person has had a charmed life, until you then find the real story. There has been great heartbreak and challenge in this person’s life. And yet without digging deeper, you would never have known that anything was wrong. People have traveled to Third World countries and have found peace, joy and thankfulness in people who live in conditions we would consider deplorable.

What determines if a thankful glass is half-full or half-empty? Is it the circumstances or opportunities in one’s life? Is the temperament someone is born with the determining factor? Or is it a choice each person makes? The above scenarios make the first option, circumstances, unlikely. Temperament may play a small part, but there are people who live thankful, happy lives for a while, then after a series of trials, they become bitter. So, temperament alone cannot be the deciding factor. A thankful glass that is half-full or half-empty is determined by what one chooses to look at.

Each day, we are given opportunity to choose our attitude. Good things are all around us. Waking up is a good thing in itself. Regardless of the trials and challenges we may be facing, there are many, many little things to inspire thankfulness. There are people in our lives that we can be thankful for. If these are the things and people are what we choose to look for, our thankful glass will always be half-full. Likewise, each day will provide opportunities to make us less than happy. These can range from little irritations to seemingly insurmountable problems. If we choose to focus on these, our thankful classes can quickly become half-empty. We choose, minute by minute, which half of the glass we focus on.

When it becomes difficult to focus on the half-full portion of our thankful glass, it may be time to think of another cup. This is the cup of forgiveness that was purchased for us with such a high price. Jesus Christ paid that extremely high price so we could drink from this cup. “And in like manner, He took the cup after supper, saying, this cup is the new testament or covenant [ratified] in My blood, which is shed (poured out) for you.” (Luke 22:20 AMP) Jesus knew the price ahead and even asked the Father to remove it. But He saw the other half of the cup as well. “who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

Looking to, and truly appreciating, this cup can help change how we look at our own circumstances. Hurts and challenges can become smaller when we realize he considered us valuable enough for this great sacrifice. (Any unforgiveness we harbor against others or ourselves can be brought to light. With the Lord’s help, we can forgive as well.) We are told to, “Do this, as often as you drink [it], to call Me [affectionately] to remembrance.” (First Corinthians 11:25) Remember and give thanks!

The apostle Paul, who suffered many challenges, always had this thankful cup not only half-full, but brimming over with thankfulness. We can take some good advice from him. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things,” (Philippians 4:8 ESV) With good as the focus of our thoughts, we can quickly become thankful for many things that we may not of seen before.

So, each day we must look at the glass of our lives and decide to focus on the thankful portion. By doing so, we can become people whose thankful glass is half-full. And not only can our thankful glasses be half-full, they can become brimming over. Drink deep from the glass of thankfulness today!

(With the struggles we have been and are currently facing, this has not been easy for me. I chose this post as much for my need as yours. May we all learn and both see and be blessed.)