Reasons to Be Cheerful

“You can’t always get what you want – but if you try sometime, you might just find, you get what you need …”

There’s an unexpectedly deep truth in those words from an old rock song. Finding that we can’t get what we want – in big ways and small – is a situation we continually face, with more or less grace. Life rarely turns out exactly in accordance with our wishes, but that’s okay. Because ultimately we will get what the Lord decides we should: what he knows we need. Our role is to try our best, and then accept cheerfully what we are given.

Together these two approaches – effort and acceptance – combine into a single attitude: positivity. Being positive means that we keep striving to move towards our goal, without being discouraged when things progress slowly or even go into reverse. That we remain content with our lot, yet at the same time don’t give up on our efforts to better ourselves.

The articles in this issue of Spiritual Link talk in different ways about how we can maintain this positive attitude. Keeping strong in times of trouble, combating negative aspects of mind such as anger, letting go of worry and resentment, focusing on the present to make the best use of each day, and maintaining our faith in the Lord’s plan for us – these and more are discussed.

No, we can’t always get what we want; maybe even most of the time we won’t. Hey, that’s life. But in the end, as it says in the Rolling Stones’ song, if we keep on trying we will get what we need. Because the Lord is looking after us. And that’s a reason to be cheerful if ever there was one!