are tough times we’re living in. Too many of our neighbors are unemployed or underemployed. Real estate values and 401(k) balances continue to sink like a little kid’s stomach who has been summoned to the principal’s office. To many, the future looks bleak. This cannot be the attitude of the Magnetic Christian! When we allow ourselves to fall prey to the gloom-and-doomers, we chip away at our faith in God. We negate God’s word! Who are you going to believe – will it be some talking head on the TV or radio or Internet telling you all is lost? Or some politician who screams that if you don’t support his or her plan, your future is in jeopardy? Or will you believe God Almighty? Let’s see, last time I checked, God Almighty has more credibility than any talking head or politician or anyone else who wants to tell you your future isn’t as bright as a supernova! So, we’ll trust God on this one.
Now we know that our future is bright. But what about the present? What about those hard times, those situations you may be going through right now that are sapping your strength, draining your energy? How are we supposed to look at all this? Once again, St. Paul comes to the rescue!
We know that all things work for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
Romans 8:28
Life is full of lessons. In fact, I believe that is one of the main purposes for life - to learn lessons. Remember, God has a purpose and a plan for your life. He has planted greatness within you. However, that doesn’t mean life is going to be without trials. Jesus spoke often about how His disciples would be hated, beaten, even killed. When you think about it, it’s a wonder Christianity ever got off the ground! I mean, who really wants to sign up for that kind of duty?
Jesus: “Oh, by the way, everyone will hate you, you’ll be beaten up, and chances are pretty good that you’ll die a painful and horrific death.”
Disciple: “Hey, Teacher, look at the time! Seems I’ve got a…uh…dentist’s appointment! Yeah, that’s the ticket! I’ll check back with you later.”
Luckily, that’s not the way it went down. Things still got very hairy for those first Christians. But they knew God has a reason for everything, and that, in the end, everything was going to work out according to God’s great plan. Do you know the same? Do you believe that no matter what happens, the good, the bad and the ugly, God will somehow work good from it? If so, then I would say that is something to be positive about!
When confronted with difficulties, do these two things:
1)Ask God what lesson He wants you to learn from this.
2)Try to envision the good God will bring from this situation. (Note: It may be something as simple as you growing in faith and trust. Don’t always be looking for something super-sized. That’s another thing the world tries to sell us on – in order to have value, everything needs to be big and grandiose. Though perfectly capable, God doesn’t often do super-sized. He typically does small but mighty.)
There may come times when we feel as if we just can’t go on. It happens. Sometimes we allow the weight of the world to pull us down. We feel as though we have found ourselves in the middle of an episode of Mission: Impossible. If you feel that way, think about this: every time they had a mission to accomplish on Mission: Impossible, in the end they accomplished the mission. It turns out the missions weren’t really impossible after all. (Gee, suddenly I feel cheated.) So, they got the job done, and they were just a bunch of human beings. Imagine if Almighty God had been involved in the mission! Now imagine this: Almighty God IS involved in the mission of your life. If you truly believe that God is with you (and I hope you do, because He is), then you must believe that anything is possible for you.
Jesus looked at them and said, “For human beings this is impossible,
but for God all things are possible.”
Matthew 19:26
Strength From Above
When I was growing up, my mom had a bunch of favorite sayings. Things like, “Go fly a kite!”, “Go jump in a lake”, “Take a long walk off a short pier” and “Go play in traffic” were standard fare around our house. I was always waiting for “Go stick a penny in a light socket,” but that one never caught on. Now, before you go judging my mom as an unfit mother, you need to understand something. You see, Mom and Dad had six kids in a span of eight years. At any given time Mom had three in diapers. Then in the later years, they had six, count ‘em SIX teenagers. Sanity in those days was surely elusive. Walk a mile in those shoes, my friend. I’m guessing you would come up with some choice sayings, too.
One of Mom’s favorite sayings was really a prayer. And it was a prayer that was always answered. How do I know? Because Mom is still around to this day, and Mom is one of the most positive people I know. Mom would lift her eyes heavenward and cry, “Give me strength!” And while she may not have felt it at the moment, that strength always came. And it came from the source of all strength, Jesus Christ. The same source you and I can tap into every moment of every day and receive all the strength we need to accomplish whatever God wants us to accomplish.
I have the strength for everything through him who empowers me.
Philippians 4:13
Lastly, we must remember that the things we think about are going to be the things we bring into our reality. We must always keep our minds focused on positive things. What we put into our minds is what is going to come out. If we keep feeding our mind with negative thoughts, then those negative thoughts will come out of us and we will attract negative things and negative people into our lives. This may sound like so much new age mumbo jumbo to some, but tell that to St. Paul. In his letter to the Philippians, he exhorted them to put only good stuff into their minds. We would do well to follow his advice.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
Philippians 4:8
I would like to offer a tip that has been very helpful to me in my struggle to keep my mind on positive things. It is an ancient practice. Whenever you find yourself drifting into negative thoughts, find a word or a phrase that will help snap your mind back to where it should be. Some people call this a mantra; others refer to it as a centering prayer. Call it what you will, but I have found it very helpful. There have been two that I have used throughout my life. The first is, “God, come to my assistance. Lord make haste to help me.” (From the Liturgy of the Hours) The other is, “Son of David, have pity on me.” (Mark 10:48) These brief little prayers are reminders to me that I need to rethink my thinking. Find a word or phrase that you are comfortable with and use it throughout the day to bring your mind back to excellent thoughts.
A positive attitude is one of the hallmarks of a Magnetic Christian. As you reflect on just the few Scripture passages I have presented here, I think you’ll see that we can’t not be positive about life! (How about that – using a double negative to encourage a positive.)
Questions for Reflection
1)How do I answer the question, “How are you?” How can I change my answer to reflect a more positive outlook on life?
2)What
