Keeping It Up

I find that most days it takes some effort to be positive.  It is quite easy to be negative, I think it is a default position in many people.  Once in a while that really discourages me.   A couple of low blows can fell anyone I suppose, but it always takes me by surprise when it happens to me.

The people around you will almost always mirror what they see in you, and so...being positive has great consequences.    It's amazing what you learn when you have a room full of toddlers in your daycare :) 

This week I read a devotional about "being the aroma of Christ".   2 Cor 2:15 is one of my favourite passages.  I want to be a pleasing fragrance to God and I'm supposed to bring that fragrance to the world.  There are certain ways I must carry myself if I want to glorify God in that way. It sound like it's all about me....it's sooo not.   But then again, maybe it is.   Why do I get so discouraged when other members of the body of Christ behave badly and  ungracious.  It makes me wonder why I feel like I have to try so hard, and other people get to walk around just being...themselves?   Everyone experiences disappointment, unmet expectations, and times when life just doesn't go their way.   Everyone needs compassion. And none of us have a monopoly on Grace or Mercy.  A friend reminded me the other day that "cynicism is from the devil".  Blunt.

2 Cor 2:15 reminds me that it isn't about me. (Phew!) It's about living for the audience of One, and about being obedient.   It's about taking daily vitamins that provide stamina: surrounding myself visually with the Life sustaining Word, I don't bind it on my forehead or on my door post but I do write it on file folders, cubicle wall, and key-chain.  And I listen to music that reminds me of the unfailing promises of God's presence, power and righteous right hand.  And...I continue to be thankful for the good people God puts on my path.   I seek them out and hear the words that God might be speaking through them, to my heart and to my soul. And I make cards and I make muffins.....(look out when I start baking!)

It's about focusing what I'm called to do, instead of focusing on the circumstances around me.  I'm called to be the "aroma" in spite of what is going on around me, and maybe, especially when things "smell less than fresh" around me. I can't change people or their outlook on life, but I can maintain mine. If I look down, I'm going to start sinking.  In the meantime, I can take shelter in the refuge His wings, I can look up to hills because that's where my help is going to come from.  That...I think...is looking on the bright side!