Those years as a boy working and growing up in my father’s store, I started to understand something about a few people…Most of the customers who came in regularly would seem to be happy most of the time, but a few were almost never happy and it seemed like they didn’t want to be happy! One man named Bill never wanted to talk about much unless it was bad news and when he would walk in and you’d ask him “how are you doing Bill?” His response was always the same “Breathing”…He was never mean, he just never seemed happy.
I remember another man who never seemed happy and his name was Will. If we were having an absolutely beautiful day and you would say “Isn’t it a beautiful day?” Will would say “It won’t last.” One time in October it was warm and sunny and I said “isn’t this incredible weather?” He said “You watch, we’re gonna pay for this.”…As a boy, I had a hard time trying to figure why those men never seemed to be happy…
When I had my own business I would have an employee from time-to-time who showed signs of never being happy. One beautiful spring morning I saw an employee taking a coffee break outside, so I went over to talk with him. I went up and said “Isn’t this an absolutely beautiful day?” He said “It sure is…today would be a good day to die.” I was shocked and said something like it’s an even better day to be alive! He just said, oh I know, I’m not planning on dying anytime soon, just that when I do pass away I hope it’s on a day like this. I told him that I would much rather enjoy it than think about picking a day to die-besides God has already done that for me!
”I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil-this is the gift of God.” Ecclesiastes 3:12-13 (NIV)
Last year after breaking both of my legs in a tree cutting accident, I had to spend about 10 days in a rehab hospital. There was a very large room there with all kinds of equipment and devices to help people recover as they were instructed by physical therapists. It was difficult for me to do very much with two broken legs straight out in front of me as I sat in that wheelchair. But I needed to build strength so that I could transfer, etc plus I wanted to get home, so working hard and staying positive was important to me.
Every day when I was working with my therapist in that big room, another man would get pushed in a wheelchair to the “station” next to where I was. Every day his therapist would say “Good morning, how are you today?” His response was the same every day “I’ve been better”. He would never smile or have a positive response…
I always try to look happy to show the joy of having Jesus in my life…and after my experience in that rehab hospital, I’ve made a “mental note” to myself never say “I’ve been better” when asked “How are you doing today?” It just sounds terrible to me!
Till Next Time…..
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