Attitude Adjustment
January 24th, 2008 Posted in GrowthHow’s your week going? OK, so we probably don’t want a full-blown response from everyone posted on this blog. But, just give it a moment’s thought.
Not to change the subject, (though it appears that’s what I’m doing) look at the space between the two lines below. What do you primarily see?
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The primary thing you see is white space! Unless you’ve seen this kind of trick question before, you probably answered, “I see an asterisk.” In reality, the white area takes up far more of the space than does the asterisk. When I asked above, “How’s your week going?” I suspect it was easiest to think of the few things which have not gone right with the week instead of the many things that have gone right. I know this is how I often respond.
I’ve caught myself many a time being rather negative, melancholy and even grumpy because things haven’t gone perfectly. Why should I ever expect things to go perfectly? Biblically and theologically I know this to be an imperfect world and, to top it off, I’m not perfect either! No wonder no day is going to be perfect.
I think of the apostle Paul who was a prisoner because of his witness for Jesus Christ. While in this far from perfect situation he wrote the book of Philippians. It’s called the book of joy! In it he writes, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4) The key to Paul’s joy in the midst of a far from perfect set of circumstances was that he focused on the good in his situation and he focused on the Lord.
I’d suggest we do the same two things to succeed at an attitude adjustment. First, identify the many things that have not gone wrong this week and that have gone right. It’s a long list! Second, the biggest source of our joy should be the Lord and we always have Him!
So, let me ask you again, how’s your week going?
Dave
