As a general rule, how we see and respond to things in life depends on our own experience.
Upon the death of Charles Dickens, Dean Arthur Penrhyn Stanley delivered a memorial eulogy, praising Dickens for showing by his own example that…
“…Even in dealing with the darkest scenes and the most degraded characters, genius could still be clean, and mirth could be innocent”.
Dickens, who had been through a great deal of adversity in his own life, managed to find the bright side of human nature in some of his most famous characters — people who made the best out of bad situations.
The Apostle Paul discussed this mindset in Philippians 4:11 when he said that “I have learned to be content… whatever the circumstances”. Paul understood that, while the circumstances of life may not ideal, contentment is a vertical choice… not a horizontal one.
Circumstances can be an “undeserved” condition, but contentment is always a choice — a choice to follow Jesus… regardless.
The Heart of Abba - Ron Phillips 