I RECENTLY CAME ACROSS an inspirational and convicting story about a 92-year-old legally blind woman who lost her husband after 70 years of marriage. On this day, she was moving into a nursing home—her new home after her husband’s death.
After waiting patiently for several hours in the lobby, she was told her room was ready. She smiled sweetly. While gingerly maneuvering to her room with her walker, she was provided with a visual description of it, including eyelet curtains that had been hung on the window. “I love it,” she said with enthusiasm.
“Mrs. Jones, you haven’t even seen the room . . . just wait,” her escort said.
“That doesn’t have anything to do with it,” she said. “Happiness is something you decide on ahead of time. I already decided to love it.” “Every morning when I wake up,” she explained, “I have a choice: I can spend the day in bed recounting the difficulty I have with the parts of my body that no longer work, or I can get out of bed and be thankful for the ones that do. Each day is a gift, and as long as my eyes open, I’ll focus on the new day and all the happy memories I’ve stored away just for this time in my life.”
She went on to say, “Old age is like a bank account—you withdraw from what you’ve put in. My advice to you would be to deposit a lot of happiness in the bank account of memories. I am still depositing.” With a smile, she shared five simple rules to being happy:
1. Free your heart from hatred.
2. Free your mind from worries.
3. Live simply.
4. Give more.
5. Expect less.
I couldn’t help but think about Philippians 4:8 after reading her story: “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.”
Despite difficult circumstances, which is often where our minds most often take us to dwell, Mrs. Jones chose to focus on the lovely, the praiseworthy, and the excellent. What a difference it made!
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Excerpted from an article that originally appeared online at https://justbetweenus.org/everyday-life/faith-andfeelings/choose-love-and-find-joy/.
