The Book of Job and Acceptance

There is a verse in the second chapter of Job (2:10) which says, “Should we only accept good from G-d and not evil?” It got me to thinkin’ (My Southern roots are showing) about acceptance and how true this is.  We allow negative occurrences, beliefs, people and situations to affect us and we begin to question, “why me?”  “What did I do wrong to deserve this? ”  And this negativity shadows the other side of the equation.  What about all the good that G-d has bestowed on you?

But people are not like that.  When good things happen, when we’re wealthy and have a big house and fancy cars we say to ourselves, ” I did this, I accomplished all of this on my own.”   But when negative things happen we say, “Where is G-d?  What did I do to deserve this bad thing that is happening to me?”  “What About Me?”  “It’s his or her fault that I am miserable!”

Acceptance is an attitude.  And attitude, according to Charles Swindoll means, ” every day we have a choice regarding our attitude… we cannot change the past… we cannot change the fact that certain people will act a certain way.  We cannot change the inevitable.  The only thing we have is our attitude.”  Swindoll says, ” I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

Acceptance is the key to emotional success. We all experience physical and emotional pain.  Marsha Linehan, Ph’D, founder of Dialectical Behavior Therapy says, “Pain + Non-Acceptance  = MISERY.  Pain + Acceptance = Happiness.”

Every day you have a choice to react to circumstances beyond your control in a certain way.  You cannot change the past, you cannot control the future.  So the alternative path to emotional stability and health is to live in the present moment and accept what is happening is what is supposed to happen and be grateful for what you do have, instead of miserably feeling sorry for yourself about what you don’t have.