Positive Attitude

Yesterday I got my haircut by Mari, a good friend of ours who has her own hair studio. I used to work with her and she now handles all of the Lange's hair.

She was telling me about her son Josh (I think he's in the 6th grade) who started school on Tuesday of this week. Josh is an athlete and hangs out with other athletes which is normal for kids of that age.

He was assigned to his home room and when he walked in he saw that none of his friends were in his room. In fact, most of the kids in his home room were not athletic at all and were part of a different crowd. Then he looked across the hall and all of his friends were in the other room slapping high fives because they were together.

He was obviously very disappointed. Mari, who was with him because it was orientation day, said she was heartbroken.

Josh grumbled about it several times over the next few minutes. Then as they walked out the door, Josh said to Mari, "Mom, I think I'll have to bring my football each day to school." Mari asked why he would want to do that and Josh replied, "So I can teach these kids how to throw. I think I'll have to step up this year and be a leader."

What a great attitude!

How often do we grumble about our circumstances rather than just sucking it up and making the best of it like Josh. I think we can all learn from this!

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.

Romans 8:28

Garbage In, Garbage Out

As the short video above discusses, what we think about will dictate much of who we are. I once heard Tony Robbins discussing the time he attempted to drive a race car around the track. He said as he approached the wall, he could not help but look at it. As he came nearer to it, he felt he needed to look at it more. As a result of looking at the wall, he ended up hitting it because that is what he was focused on.

John Maxwell says you are a product of who you hang around with and the books you read. I agree with this is because who you are with and what you are reading will impact what you think about.

So, are you in a rut? If so, maybe you're thinking about the wrong things. Perhaps you need to evaluate who you are spending time with and what you are reading.

Finally, brothers, 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.

Philippians 4:8

Houston We Have A Problem

A good friend of mine, Brian Keel, who is CFO at the Toledo YMCAs wrote this recently:

I’ve been reading the book Failure is Not an Option by Eugene Kranz, Toledo native and legendary NASA flight director. While a relatively small part of the book deals directly with the story of Apollo 13 it could be said that the entire book and the entire history of NASA is related to that mission. For all the intelligence possessed by the engineers in Mission Control, for all the technology (advanced for its time) that was at their disposal, for all the courage shown by the crew, it was the training and experience of the people that made the difference between success and failure of Apollo 13.

A pastor friend likened our individual reaction to a crisis or pressure to that of a sponge. What comes out of us when we’re squeezed depends on what we have been soaking in! The Mission Control team soaked itself in training and simulation to be ready for almost any situation. What are we soaking in?

Some of the key components like prayer, corporate worship and Bible study are obvious. But so many of the choices we make every day also contribute to our environment. Do we spend more time with our negative friends or the positive ones? Do we watch TV shows where spouses and children treat each other with respect or do they yell and put each other down?

Soak in the good stuff…. And success will be our only option!

“Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come at you from all sides. You know that under pressure, your faith-life is forced into the open and shows its true colors.” James 1:2

TGIM

I love to be around people with a positive attitude. I'll bet you do too.

I am blessed to know many who help to pick me up when I'm feeling down. One of those is Pastor Larry. He is the pastor of First Congregational Church in Toledo. He's the type of guy who makes you feel better just being with him.

He sends out a weekly email and I received this from him last week:

I love Mondays and I’ll tell you why…Monday is an opportunity for a fresh start. In my case I dust my desk off…open the blinds and let the sunshine in…and I realize that I have an opportunity for a new beginning. Oh yes, I carry over some of the stuff from last week…but now that I have had a couple days to refresh myself…to worship an awesome God…I’ve gained new strength for a new week.

Can you imagine how hopeless life would be if Jesus had simply said, In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart? No, Jesus said, In this world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world!

That really fires me up for a new week. As 1 Corinthians 15:57 says, "But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." This means, as a follower of Christ, you have victory over death, yes, but it also means so much more than that. It means you can have victory over anything that goes on in this life as well.

I realize that as I say this today, I know that some of you feel like your back is against the wall. You are wondering whether you will ever be able to let go of the fear in your heart. I have wonderful news for you today. It may not happen today…it may not happen next month even…but through the power of Jesus Christ working in your heart and life, you can let go of your fear. Perhaps your prayer should be something like this…I’ll take heart because Jesus has overcome my ______________________________________.

Being a follower of Christ means you can have victory over your fears…your failures…and your future…EVERYTHING!

I love a fresh start!

Larry

It was too good for me not to share. TGIM!

More Choices

" It's not what happens to you, but how you react that matters."

Epictetus

Ray Kroc, Ben Hogan, Wilma Rudolph. What do these three people have in common? They all chose to overcome some incredible obstacles to reach their goal. The obstacles they had were not ordinary, in fact, most told them they could not do it. Does that sound familiar to your life?

A little after I put up my post on Friday about the choices we have in life, I received a link to a 3 minute video about the same thing. It tells a little of the stories of the three mentioned above. Check it out here. I believe it will inspire you.

Positive Thinking

I am a pretty positive person...at least I think I am. Before I became a Christian, I loved positive thinking seminars. You know, the conferences where speakers would get you fired up to go out and conquer the world.

I know many Christians who look down upon positive thinking. They think that is for those who don't know God and that it is all fake. They think it is worthless to attend one of these events. I believe that is short sighted. Positive thinking alone will not take care of anything by itself, but it will help you in almost every case...and it certainly is more productive than negative thinking!

Zig Ziglar agrees as he writes:

Just what can positive thinking do? To be candid, some people have given positive thinking a bad name. I can't stand to hear some gung-ho individual say that with positive thinking you can just do "anything." If you think about that one for a moment, you recognize the absurdity of it. As a ridiculous example, I'm a positive thinker, but I could never slam-dunk a basketball or perform major surgery - or even minor surgery - on anyone and expect that person to survive. Nate Newton, the 300-plus pound lineman for the Dallas Cowboys, is positive, optimistic and outgoing but he'd be a complete failure as a jockey or a ballet dancer.

It's safe to say that positive thinking won't let you do "anything." However, it is even safer to say that positive thinking will let you do "everything" better than negative thinking will. Positive thinking will let you use the ability which you have, and that is awesome. It works this way. You can walk into a dark room, flip on the switch and immediately the room is lighted. Flipping the switch did not generate the electricity; it released the electricity which had been stored. Positive thinking works that way - it releases the abilities which you have.

The student who hasn't studied and prepared for the test won't be helped by "thinking positively." However, positive thinking will help the student who has studied and prepared by "releasing" the stored knowledge when the questions are asked. To express it in a different way, knowledge breeds confidence; confidence breeds enthusiasm; and enthusiasm is an important key to being and doing more with your life.

Buy the positive approach to life and I will SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

Finally, brothers, 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.

Philippians 4:8