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The following is one in a series of devotionals reprised from Morning Manna, a daily email devotional I wrote from 2000 – 2005.
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POSITIVELY NEGATIVE | THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING
…we glory in tribulations… Rom. 5:3
It is so much easier to gripe in tribulations than it is to glory. Or is that just me?
Maybe it is just me. I must confess: I am a pessimist by nature. I know this. I come by it honestly. I hail from a long line of pessimistic people. We Strothers work at it the way some people work with clay or oil paints. Well, it isn’t really THAT bad. But, like millions, I do struggle every day to see the glass as half full rather than half empty.
I want to be an optimist. My personal prayer life often has for its theme the request that God help me see the good in every situation, to find the positive in people, to be hopeful regardless of the circumstance. I have learned that the key to overcoming a negative attitude is the same as the key to overcoming any personality disorder, addiction, or sin – you have to FIRST own the problem. You have to recognize that you have a problem or you will never seek the
cure.
I thank God for optimistic people and try to surround myself with them whenever I can. My mother is an optimist. She was the positive;
my dad was the negative. Together they were just right. My best friend in the world (besides Jesus and my wife, of course), Keith Day is the eternal optimist. You could set his face on fire and he would find something positive in the experience. I know this is true because a few years ago a carburetor he was working on backfired and did just that. He never lost his sense of humor or hope. I think that had a lot to do with the fact that even after suffering severe burns he healed so well there is hardly any evidence the tragedy ever took place.
Today I want to urge you to see the positive.
A Prayer for Today: “Dear Father, today I want to praise you and keep an upbeat spirit regardless of what happens. Give me, Lord, a positive attitude, a teachable spirit and a hopeful outlook. Thank You. Amen.”
