I came to a realization the other day while cutting the grass. I should point out here that I do not particularly like cutting grass. Actually, I pretty much have always hated it. Simply having vegetation which holds my yard in place is pretty much sufficient for me. If it is green vegetation, that is just a bonus. However, my neighbors would not be very happy if I maintained my lawn this way. So to maintain neighborly relations, I was cutting the grass. While I was doing it this particular time, I was thinking about something I often tell my kids: Your attitude makes all the difference in whether you enjoy or hate doing something.
While I was cutting the grass, I started to think about how much I would rather be doing something else and started to have a bad attitude about the task at hand. I knew if I looked at cutting the grass with a different perspective then I would be able to better enjoy the task. I started thanking God for even having a yard with grass. I thanked Him for my house and my family who lives there with me. I went on to thank Him for many other things related to the house or the yard. This change in perspective helped me to have a much better attitude about cutting the grass.
The concept that your attitude affects your enjoyment of what you are doing was not the realization that struck me that day. I have known the importance of having a good attitude for many years. It is something I continually try to impress upon my children and to practice myself. I just have a hard time actually maintaining that good attitude all the time. Two people can go through the same situation and one can hate it while the other can love it. The difference in their level of enjoyment is purely based on their attitudes. The same is true for upcoming events and whether you will view it with dread or fear.
A good example of how attitude affects your anticipation of an event happened in our house very recently. A new school year just started. We had one child who was extremely excited about the school year. The other was fearful about many things and mostly dreaded it. One chose to focus on the positive aspects and the other on the negative aspects and it totally shaped their attitudes about the upcoming event. The one with the better attitude was able to look forward to and enjoy the first day of school. Seeing how they approached this situation helped to emphasize that no matter what you are doing the better your attitude is toward that thing the more you will enjoy it.
The realization I had while cutting the grass was that our attitudes in Heaven will always be perfect. Most people believe that in Heaven we will live in constant joy and I believe this to be true as well. I cannot think of anything in the Bible which proves or disproves this belief. But, it is hard to imagine having anything other than joy while being in the presence of God. As we have seen, it is impossible to have joy with the wrong attitude. Whatever we happen to be doing in Heaven we will have the best possible attitude about it. This will lead us to receive the most enjoyment possible from whatever we are doing. Of course, there is much more to Heaven than simply having the right attitude. (You can read my book on Heaven (Heaven: Harps Optional) to see what I mean.) It will certainly be easier in Heaven to have a good attitude since there will be no sickness or death. However, even during this life, we can see how our attitude affects our enjoyment of any situation. If Heaven is filled with joy, it must also be filled with people with awesome attitudes.
The closer we are to having the best possible attitude in this life, the closer we are to experiencing a little piece of Heaven right here. When you find yourself upset about having to do something, try and change your perspective and your attitude to be more positive. We cannot always do this of course but the more we attempt it the easier it becomes. It may even become a habit if you work at it hard enough. After it has been a habit long enough, it will simply be your character to have a positive attitude. You will simply be that person who always has a good attitude and who people wish to be around. That is what I am striving for but I have a long way to go.
There may or may not be grass in Heaven. If there is, I highly doubt we will need to cut it. But if we do, it will be with a huge smile on our faces. Until I reach Heaven, I will be working at having a smile on my face as much as possible.
