Read Online Every Day a Friday: How to Be Happier 7 Days a Week by Joel Osteen - Free Book Online

Where are the people unselfish enough to say, “God, I trust You. It’s uncomfortable. It’s not fair. I’m not doing it because I want to. I’m not doing it because I feel like it. But God, I’m doing it unto You”?
    God rewards people like that!
    The apostle Paul put it this way: “I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want” (Philippians 4:11–12 NIV ).
    He was basically saying, “I just bloom wherever I’m planted. I’ll be happy and have a good attitude knowing that God is directing my steps. He’s in complete control. And it’s all a part of His divine plan for my life.”

Be a Rose Among Thorns
    Like Dave, you don’t have to allow a bad environment to affect your happiness. Don’t focus on the weeds. You may be spending all your time, so to speak, trying to pull up the weeds. In other words, trying to fix everything in your life, trying to make people do what’s right, trying to straighten out all your co-workers.
    You can’t change people. Only God can.
    You can’t change people. Only God can. If somebody wants to be a weed, no matter what you do, they will be a weed. Spending all your time and energy trying to change them will keep you from blooming. One of the best things you can do is just bloom bigger than ever right in the middle of those weeds. Right in the middle of those negative and critical co-workers, put a big smile on your face.
    Be kind. Be friendly. When they complain, don’t preach a sermon to them. Don’t try to stop them. Your job is not to pull up the weeds. Your job is to bloom. Just have a good report. The more they complain, the more grateful you should be. The more they talk defeat, the more you should talk victory.
    If your co-workers come in one morning being sour and rude to you, don’t be offended and think,
Well, I’m never speaking to them again
. That’s the time more than ever to bloom. Put a smile on your face anyway. Have a good attitude in spite of that.

You Are Responsible
to
People, Not
for
Them
    We are responsible for helping and encouraging others, for guiding them further along. But we are not responsible for their choices. You cannot force a good attitude upon someone. If they want to live in the pits, unhappy, discouraged, and in self-pity, that’s their choice. Do not allow them to drag you into the pit with them.
    If you spend all your time trying to encourage others, trying to make them do what’s right, trying to keep them cheered up, they’ll drain all the life and energy out of you. You cannot bloom if you spend all your time trying to keep others happy. That is not your responsibility.
    I learned long ago that not everyone wants to be happy. Some people want to live in the pits. They like the attention it brings them. Make the decision to say: “If you don’t want to be happy, that’s fine, but you can’t keep me from being happy. If you want to live in the pits, that’s your choice, but I’m not diving in there with you. If you want to be a weed, you can be a weed, but I’m a flower. I’m blooming. I’m choosing a good attitude. I’m smiling. I’m happy despite my circumstances.”
    When you bloom in the midst of weeds, you sow a seed to inspire and challenge the people around you to come up higher, and that’s a seed for God to take you higher.
    You may be in a negative environment right now. The people in your life may not be going places. They may lack goals, dreams, vision, enthusiasm. You may not see how you could ever rise above. It might be easy to just accept and settle where you are and think this is your destiny.
    Let me challenge you. This is not your destiny. You were made for more. God has incredible things planned for your future, but you have to do your part and bloom where you’re planted. What