A Tiny Seed

You know the old saying, ”misery loves company”, well...I often wonder if it's just not that simple.  Maybe it’s not the misery that needs the company, rather the person.  The problem with misery is its affecting.  It’s hard to be around negativity without succumbing to it eventually.  Even though deep down, I don’t think people truly mean to bring others down with them, it’s just simply easier to commiserate together than to rise above the circumstances.

Jesus talked about faith a lot.  Faith is important.  It’s what we, as humans, cling to when all else doesn’t make sense.  Faith has been likened to many things, but none so poignant as a seed.  Seeds are remarkable things.  So tiny and yet so complex; carrying all the DNA needed to create something amazing, something huge.  An acorn produces an Oak tree, a mustard seed produces a mustard plant.  Seeds have the potential to grow into something much bigger than they start out as.  In many ways negativity is like a seed.  It starts out small, almost unrecognizable.  But, if given the chance to take root it will grow into something much bigger, misery.  And just as with seeds that “growth of misery” has the potential to produce many more seeds of negativity.  

Something I have noticed is how aware you can become of the negativity around you when make the conscious effort to be happy.  It’s like you become hypersensitive to it.  Often making it even more of a challenge to not let it affect you.  Several years ago I went through a period in my life where I let my anger, frustration, and just general bad attitude take over.  I was miserable.  And it was so hard to not try and take others down with me.  Not because I wanted them to be miserable too.  Truly, that wasn’t the goal.  It was just easier than dealing with my unhappiness.  Actually, if I am honest, it was easier than letting it go.  Sometimes I think we wear our anger and hurt like a badge of honor.  As if the world owes us because we have suffered some great injustice.  But is discontent an injustice?  Perhaps it’s a pride thing?   

Today was a challenge.  I feel like I’ve headed right into a lions den and boy are the lions miserable and angry.  But I’m determined to not succumb.  I don’t want to wake up one day and realize that I’ve grown an “Oak tree of misery” because I let all the negativity take root.  There’s always going to be negative people around.  Some days it might even be me.  But the thing I am learning is it’s all a choice.  You can choose to be angry, bitter and negative or you can choose to happy.  Choosing happiness doesn’t mean that you won’t have bad days.  It doesn’t mean that problems won’t come your way.  And it certainly doesn't mean you won't have low points; days in which you yourself feel that twinge of misery.  It’s just that if you allow a different seed to take root you will find that it can grow into something much more powerful…HOPE.