Focusing on the Good

The other day my youngest daughter, who is 5 and quite dramatic, was in her room crying. She had gotten into an argument over whose turn it was on the swing set. When I asked her if she was ok, she stated very matter of factly, "I'm having a bad day!"

Oh, how many times I have thought, if not said, the same thing.

Whether you're a child, a teenager, a young adult, middle aged, or older - we all have something in common. Sometimes, we just have a bad day! The challenge can be, often times, to not have a bad week, month, or year :) Often times in my life I have "camped" there. It's easy to talk about what's wrong with the world, the economy, and sometimes people in general. Sometimes things go south or attitudes flare up, and before you know it you hear things come out of your mouth, that you wished never did. But, I don't want to camp there anymore.

I asked people to name one thing positive about themselves before I wrote this blog - why? I want to start thinking about what's right with everything, not what's wrong with everything. So I started there...we could probably all name 20 things we didn't like about ourselves, but what do you like? There's again, multiple things we could say is wrong about any given situation - but what about it is right? I don't know about you, but when I'm constantly focusing on the bad - that's when I tend to have a bad day.

I'm not saying real problems don't happen, and there won't be times when there's nothing you can really say or do in that moment to make them go away. In fact, sometimes the best thing to do is sound the alarm, and focus directly on it. What I am talking about is not "camping" in an attitude of distress. I'm talking about living a life that says, in most things I could focus on what's wrong, but I'm choosing to focus on what's right. Choose today, to have a good day.

Phil 4:8

8 Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.
NKJV