Right After I Began Dating Mr. Wonderful… (Yes the shirt says My Man and yes he tied his favorite fly for me to wear as earrings… Yes, I was a leader at Jr. High Camp that week. 1999)
So, do you like hanging out with negative people or positive people? Happy or depressed people? I personally gravitate towards positive and this is partly because I want their positivity to rub off on me. I like smiling and laughing and feeling good about conversations. I like walking away feeling excited about the next time I get to hang out with that person.
Are we going be happy and smiling and laughing all the time? Of course not, life happens. But I am not talking about being sad over a traumatic event, I am talking about people that are just overwhelmingly negative all the time no matter what the situation or circumstances. It is so easy to get sucked in to those conversations and then feel yucky and depressed after walking away. I find I do not expectantly await to hang out with that person at any point in the near future.
So when you are trying to convince someone to your way of thinking do you do it in a positive or a negative way? I don’t get motivated or excited about the negative. Wanna talk to me about politics and how horrible everything is and that nothing good is going to come out of this years election? Well, I will just tell you that God is in charge and the one sitting in the White House come next January will be the one he wants there, because that person is a tool he is using to usher in the ultimate plan that he has for this world. So guess what? I’m not going to worry about it. I will vote and then let the chips fall where they may and regardless of my personal feelings about the candidates I will pray for them and hope that something good comes from their presidency.
Who is truly motivated by the negative? If you are a smoker am I going to get you to quit smoking by telling you about lung cancer or about how many people have died from it? Probably not. But what if I told you that in a very short time period can add years back to your life if you quit smoking now? Or that in just a few weeks your ability to take in a deep breath would greatly improve? If you are overweight am I going to convince you to lose weight by showing you statistics on how obese people are typically sicker and have more health issues than those who are not overweight? (this argument would be especially amusing coming from me as a non obese cancer survivor) What if I instead talked to you about how healthy food makes you feel better? How much your complexion, your outlook on life and your energy level would improve just by changing the way you eat. People want to hear the positive. They want to know how they can improve their life and the lives of others.
Lately I have heard several talks on the decline of Christians and Christianity. It is said that statistically church attendance and people actively following Christ in this country is in decline. Don’t you feel motivated right now? Don’t you just want to jump up and tell others about Christ because the statistics say that things are getting really bad? No? Me neither.
So I was listening to Andy Stanley the other day and he reframed the situation for me beautifully. Jesus had 12 disciples, 12. Today there are about 2.2 billion Christians in the world. Out of 12 came 2.2 billion! Wow! If 12 can do that then what can I do? What can you do? Well, it means that my/your one little life can be a tremendously large testimony to Christ and who he is, what he did on that cross and what he can do in the lives of those who believe in him. So now we are focused on the awesomeness of Christ and not the negative of a bunch of numbers. I for one find this to be a lot more inspiring. How many lives can be changed if I am willing to share with others how they can be forgiven and have eternal life by to introducing them to Christ, their creator, their Savior?
I found a sign when I was on a wine tour recently. I saw it and knew that I needed it…
I love this sign and I read it several times every single day . Because guess what? Everything IS going to be okay. It doesn’t mean that things are going to be easy or that there will be no hardships or that you can just sit back and do nothing. What it means is that the war has been won. It was won on the cross 2000 years ago, our job now is to tell everyone we know about the great news.
Focusing on the negative is way easier than looking at the awesomeness of the reality.
12 has become 2.2 billion, what can 2.2 billion become?
Have a Fabulous Day!
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Thanks Tiffany. I call those negative people Joy Slurpers. Not my choice of people. That’s why I love you and your buds.
I call those people black holes of Joy. I’m with you, I want to live with JOY.
Choosing “JOY” is life changing. I choose “JOY”
YES YES and YES! I so agree with you, Tiffany! joysuckers are not a lot of fun! When I am with them, I give them my undivided attention and try not to listen with my heart but instead pray for them thru the entire dialogue. I often wonder are some people just born with a negative attitude? I don’t think so. But I do think it takes a bigger effort to choose joy for those who are on the more serious side.