When once upon a Time doesn't end as planned?

Most stories we tell our children  begin with "Once upon a time" and end with "and they lived happily ever after".   But why is it that our real life  story very seldom ends that way?   Its because of a little thing called "life" which seems to find a way to  get in the way of all our hopes and dreams.   Rarely do things go according to our plans.  It seems that we are always having a curve ball thrown at us.  For some, we never seem to get around to going back to school;  We don't meet the right girl/guy;  We marry the wrong person;  For others, we make a bad business decision that causes us to lose our business; we invest in the wrong stock;  We choose the wrong career path;   And this list can go on and on.  And any of these things can lead us to one day just throwing our hands up and  saying "What went wrong?  Why didn't my life turn out as I had planned?"    I think it is important for us to realize that nothing actually went wrong in our life.  We just didn't get the life we had set out for ourselves.  Our plans and our goals  didn't match up with what God had planned for us.  And that is just the way it is.  So let me ask you this: how many people have you met that have had things go as planned?  Everything was perfect just as they pictured it?   Not often, huh?  For more times than not, I hear people wish for a happier New Year only to mumble midway thru the year that they can't wait for this year to be over?   In fact an entire book was written on this subject.   Pete Wilson, Sr. pastor at my home church called Cross Point here in Nashville wrote a book appropriately titled  Plan B-What do you do When God doesn't show up the way you thought he would.  It tackles the issues of when things don't go according to your plans and I highly recommend it.  You can get it on Amazon.

So anyway, things haven't gone according to your plans?  What are you going to do about it?  Are you going to mope around and blame others for your failures or are you going to pick up the pieces and make the best of your situation?  This brings me to my next question:

 Are you a "glass is half full"  or a "glass is half empty" kind of person?  The answer to this question really sets the stage for how you live your life.  So many times we ask this question when we look at the attitude people have about their life.  In reality, I think it boils down to how we handle adversity.  It is easy to have a half full philosophy when things are going well.  But what do you do when things don't go according to your plan?  Do you complain or feel sorry for yourself when life takes a turn for the worse?   I believe a lot of this depends on how "self centered" you are.  People who focus on themselves will always want more and will complain when things don't go their way.  Alternatively, those who focus on others tend to be thankful for what they have.  Talk to someone who spends time helping the poor or the sick and you will find someone who is thankful for  their health or for a roof over their head.  

But interestingly enough, our Father wants for us more than a 'half full or half empty' glass scenario. He wants us to be a "full and running over" kind of person. "...my cup runneth over." - Psalm 23:5. We are to be a people so full of joy and love that it flows over and spills out of us.  And this is where our faith in God and our realization that we are part of a grander story begins to take place. For That which runneth over is never wasted by God. It touches the lives of all around us. This is to be our focus; not what we don't have or the career we didn't achieve or even the school our child didn't get in.  No, its about what we can give to others in His Name.  If we are faithful in reaching out to others, God will never let our glass be anything but full and running over.