Attitude in Your Life

Fanny Crosby wrote several thousand hymns. And she was blinded when she was only six weeks old because of a mistake of a doctor. When she was just a little girl she wrote:

Oh, what a happy soul am I! Although I cannot see,
I am resolved that in this world contented I shall be.
How many blessings I enjoy that other people don't.
To weep and sigh because I'm blind, I cannot--and I won't!





so keep playing the music, even when you are sad! the words will give meaning to the music.


Be as generous as you can, as often as you can. Good deeds make it easier to choose happiness.

“Happy is entirely up to you and always has been.”  




 Philippians 4:8-9 - Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things [are] honest, whatsoever things [are] just, whatsoever things [are] pure, whatsoever things [are] lovely, whatsoever things [are] of good report; if [there be] any virtue, and if [there be] any praise, think on these things.

DON’T BE SAD

 What happened is over
Yesterday is past
Now it’s part of history
It will not come back forever

Don’t be sad
  What is coming, is coming!
Do not take any sorrow
Do not allow the fear
To cover your mind
Or destroy your heart
Just because something
May happen tomorrow!

 Don’t be sad, don’t be grave
Face the new reality
Struggle hard, with patience,
Remain strong and brave

 Don’t be sad
Stay happy
Think positive
Even when things go bad
This is the nature of life
Nothing will remain the same
Change is coming
Do what you can
And leave the rest for God.

Yassin Aref

The apostle Paul spoke of developing contentment in his own experience when he said, "I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content. I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:11-13).

Notice that Paul speaks of contentment as something to be learned. We can learn to be content when we recognize the true value of things around us.

When a person can be content "everywhere and in all things," whether full or hungry, abounding or suffering need, he knows a source of contentment beyond anything the world can provide or understand.



Walk the Talk

Jesus said, "Just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions" (Matthew 7:20).

For the best fruit, connect to the vine. As Jesus said, "Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me" (John 15:4). True Disciples 21 “Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. 22 On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’   “What you do is what matters, not what you think or say or plan.” ― Jason Fried, Rework

Perseverance Pays

Romans 5:3-5

³ Not only so, but we^[a] also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; ⁴ perseverance, character; and character, hope. ⁵ And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.

 

Philipians 3: 13-14

 

13Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

 

I think of the Olympics as one of our greats tests of perseverance, reaching toward a goal until it is accomplished. Many sacrifices of our body, family, friends and finances go into reaching that goal and when it is over, we have a medal to remind us of the prize we sacrificed for.

 

Quote from John Furlong, former CEO of the Vancouver Olympics 2010 Organizing Committee:

This is the one event in the world that is a genuine celebration of peace and humanity. It is a chance for the world to grow a bit where cultures can connect better. I always thought the Olympic Games would be something that would inspire every Canadian child to live a better life and become a better leader, to believe in fair play and have good values.

Jack Poole, the Vanoc board chairman
 "There is only today and the moment you are in. So live it well with a loving heart."

That was his philosophy. Today is the only day that matters. Stop worrying about the next day or next month.

All goals are a test of perseverance..."Perseverance is the energy that drives the human spirit.  Such persistence has played a large part in the success of noted men and women in various fields.  All of us struggle with problems in which persistence may mean the difference between happiness and gloom, life and death. 

Finally, at Jericho, Elisha was tested once more in a similar way. Again, Elisha passed the test of persistence and accompanied Elijah to Jordan. It was thus that he got the double portion of the anointing – God’s best for his life (2 Ki.2:1-14).

What is the message here for us? There are various stages in our spiritual development at which God tests us to see whether we are satisfied with what we have already received or whether we will press on to God’s highest. Very, very few are willing to walk the way of the cross – “the new and living way that Jesus has inaugurated for us through His flesh.” (Heb. 10:20).

But it is these few, who are wholehearted enough to press on to total death to self, who receive the double portion – God’s best.