“Happiness is not by chance, but by choice.” Jim Rohn
Last Saturday I watched a wonderful movie titled “Brittany Runs a Marathon.” The movie brought home an important lesson to remember. Brittany was overweight and lethargic, drinking and eating herself into emotional oblivion in New York City. When she went to her doctor looking for a prescription to increase her energy, her doctor told her no and prescribed exercise. After considering a gym membership she couldn’t afford, she slowly started running. In the process she made friends, the weight started to come off and she decided to run in the New York City Marathon. When an injury prevented her from running and she lost her housing, she moved in with her sister and brother-in-law in Philadelphia to recover. She lost self-control and began binge drinking and eating again which led to an angry confrontation with a woman who was very overweight but was happy with an attractive husband. When apologizing later on and receiving a response from the woman, Brittany discovered that focusing on the number on her scale or finishing the marathon is not the same as taking responsibility for her happiness. She put away the scale, resumed working out, rebuilt her life and the next year completed the New York City Marathon. The transformation of her life and outlook was amazing.
I was discussing the movie with a young man who is the manager at the Smoothie King in my town. I remarked at the end, that the key was that Brittany took responsibility for her actions and happiness. He smiled and said “of course, we can never control the outcome, but we can take responsibility for our attitude and actions.” I was amazed at his wisdom at his young age, but then again, he always serves me with a smile. I think that is what faith in God is. We dream, we act, we count our blessings, and let God unfold the rest. However, most of what we think about is how to achieve the envisioned outcome in the process missing the journey and how God can surprise us in the end.
This leads me to another show I watched this week – God Friended Me. On Sunday, Miles who is directed by the God account on Facebook to help others in trouble (we don’t know who is behind the God account) is faced with a dilemma of going against his girlfriend Kara’s wishes. Kara is trying to protect her stepfather who is involved in a misguided insider trading scheme. Miles discloses the scheme to a reporter and in the end Kara’s stepfather is arrested and sentenced to two years in prison. Although by reporting the scheme, Miles prevents a harsher sentence because Kara’s stepfather was getting in deeper further risking himself, his investors and his family, Kara is caught in-between not wanting to act and hurt her family. In the end Kara, her stepfather, her mother and sister are financially and emotionally hurt but intact as a family. Miles does not know the final outcome for Kara’s family, if Kara will ever forgive him, and whether he has lost her forever. The show ends with those unanswered questions. Based on Miles experience with the God account, it is never wrong. But for most of us direction from God on how to act is not clear and we know we are fallible. Our assumptions and resulting actions could have consequences for others not intended by God.
My sister-in-law says in heaven, God will reveal all to us. I don’t know if I am ready for that revelation because I would see the results of all my actions, intentional and unintentional, good and bad and it could be painful. But I have faith that as I continue on my journey, I will become wiser in taking my direction from God and focus on the journey and my attitude, not the outcome. The final outcome I leave to God.
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