All of us can awaken in the morning with a happy, cheerful outlook toward life. There is no need to be cross and irritable with the world and everyone in it.
It may be necessary for you to put forth effort in order to be cheerful and pleasant. If you do, you will feel better about yourself. You can develop a happy outlook. You can cultivate a good disposition, but no other person can do it for you. If you would like a more pleasant state of mind, make it so. As you recognize the need for change, God will help you do it.
When you awaken in the morning, turn your thoughts to pleasant things. Ask God to cleanse your mind and heart of all irritation, and greet the day with a happy heart.
What do you want out of life? Do you know? Few people have any real concrete picture of just what they want out of life. Consequently it seems that they live at the mercy of someone or something other than themselves. Thus we have the belief that we are the victim of things over which we have little or no control.
Each and every person is created with the ability and the power to determine his own future. Man is not at the whim of fate, luck, or chance. Neither is he created to be at the mercy of another person [ . . .]
The Joyce Kramer Ministries logo depicts a dogwood tree planted across the entrance to the church that Rev. Kramer founded in Virginia Beach. Transplanted from her brother’s property in Charlottesville, for eighteen months the tree seemed nothing more than a lifeless stick in the ground. Finally, on a Wednesday afternoon, the decision was made to dig it up, but the lawn maintenance man did not have a shovel with him. The next week, he said, he would come back and discard the dead tree. But that Sunday when Rev. Kramer arrived at church, she noticed a single leaf had appeared on the otherwise barren stick. They left the tree in place, and it grew into one of the most beautiful on the property. This flowering dogwood represents the message of Joyce Kramer Ministries: Growth is always possible; never give up.