Many of our responsibilities to believers are spelled out in terms of the “one another commands” found throughout Scripture. There are fifty-eight “one another commands” in the Word of God, and, realistically understood, it’s impossible to understand how these commands may be truly fulfilled toward other believers without involvement in a local church… In all of Paul’s “one anothering” passages, he was instructing the members of a specific local church to act in these ways toward one another.
Wayne Mack

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Attitude, After All, Is Everything Monday

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#1 · January 7, 2007, 2:22 pm

Posted by: bigguyhereagain <bigguyhereagain@...>

"Attitude, After All, Is Everything" 
 

John is the kind of guy you love to hate. He is always in a good mood and always has something positive to say. When someone would ask him how he was doing, he would reply, "If I were any better, I would be twins!"
 
He was a natural motivator.
 
If an employee was having a bad day, John was there telling the employee how to look on the positive side of the situation.

Seeing this style really made me curious, so one day I went up and asked him, "I don't get it!
 
You can't be a positive person all of the time. How do you do it?"
 
He replied, "Each morning I wake up and say to myself, you have two choices today. You can choose to be in a good mood or ... you can choose to be in a bad mood.
 
I choose to be in a good mood."
 
Each time something bad happens, I can choose to be a victim or...I can choose to learn from it. I choose to learn from it.
 
Every time someone comes to me complaining, I can choose to accept their complaining or... I can point out the positive side of life. I choose the positive side of life.
 
"Yeah, right, it's not that easy," I protested.
 
"Yes, it is," he said. "Life is all about choices. When you cut away all the junk, every situation is a choice. You choose how you react to situations. You choose how people affect your mood.
 
You choose to be in a good mood or bad mood. The bottom line: It's your choice how you live your life."
 
I reflected on what he said. Soon hereafter, I left the Tower Industry to start my own business. We lost touch, but I often thought about him when I made a choice about life instead of reacting to it.
 
Several years later, I heard that he was involved in a serious accident, falling some 60 feet from a communications tower.
 
After 18 hours of surgery and weeks of intensive care, he was released from the hospital with rods placed in his back.
 
I saw him about six months after the accident.
 
When I asked him how he was, he replied, "If I were any better, I'd be twins...Wanna see my scars?"
 
I declined to see his wounds, but I did ask him what had gone through his mind as the accident took place.
 
"The first thing that went through my mind was the well-being of my soon-to-be born daughter," he replied. "Then, as I lay on the ground, I remembered that I had two choices: I could choose to live or...I could choose to die. I chose to live."
 
"Weren't you scared? Did you lose consciousness?" I asked.
 
He continued, "..the paramedics were great.
 
They kept telling me I was going to be fine. But when they wheeled me into the ER and I saw the expressions on the faces of the doctors and nurses, I got really scared. In their eyes, I read 'he's a dead man'. I knew I needed to take action."
 
"What did you do?" I asked.
 
"Well, there was a big burly nurse shouting questions at me," said John. "She asked if I was allergic to anything. 'Yes, I replied.' The doctors and nurses stopped working as they waited for my reply. I took a deep breath and yelled, 'Gravity'."
 
Over their laughter, I told them, "I am choosing to live. Operate on me as if I am alive, not dead."
 
He lived, thanks to the skill of his doctors, but also because of his amazing attitude. .. I learned from him that every day we have the choice to live fully.
 
Attitude, after all, is everything .
 
"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34
 
After all today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.
 
"The Necklace"
 
 
The cheerful little girl with bouncy golden curls was almost five. Waiting with her mother at the checkout stand, she saw them, a circle of glistening white pearls in a pink foil box.
 
"Oh mommy please, Mommy. Can I have them? Please, Mommy, please?"
 
Quickly the mother checked the back of the little foil box and then looked back into the pleading blue eyes of her little girl's upturned face.
 
"A dollar ninety-five. That's almost $2.00. If you really want them, I'll think of some extra chores for you and in no time you can save enough money to buy them for yourself. Your birthday's only a week away and you might get another crisp dollar bill from Grandma."
 
As soon as Jenny got home, she emptied her penny bank and counted out 17 pennies. After dinner, she did more than her share of chores and she went to the neighbor and asked Mrs. McJames if she could pick dandelions for ten cents. On her birthday, Grandma did give her another new dollar bill and at last she had enough money to buy the necklace.
 
Jenny loved her pearls. They made her feel dressed up and grown up. She wore them everywhere, Sunday school, kindergarten, even to bed. The only time she took them off was when she went swimming or had a bubble bath. Mother said if they got wet, they might turn her neck green.
 
Jenny had a very loving daddy and every night when she was ready for bed, he would stop whatever he was doing and come upstairs to read her a story. One night as he finished the story, he asked Jenny, "Do you love me?"
 
"Oh yes, daddy. You know that I love you."
 
"Then give me your pearls."
 
"Oh, daddy, not my pearls. But you can have Princess, the white horse from my collection, the one with the pink tail. Remember, daddy? The one you gave me. She's my very favorite."
 
"That's okay, Honey, daddy loves you. Good night." And he brushed her cheek with a kiss.
 
About a week later, after the story time, Jenny's daddy asked again, "Do you love me?"
 
"Daddy, you know I love you."
 
"Then give me your pearls."
 
"Oh Daddy, not my pearls. But you can have my baby doll. The brand new one I got for my birthday. She is beautiful and you can have the yellow blanket that matches her sleeper."
 
"That's okay. Sleep well. God bless you, little one. Daddy loves you."
 
And as always, he brushed her cheek with a gentle kiss.
 
A few nights later when her daddy came in, Jenny was sitting on her bed with her legs crossed Indian style.
 
As he came close, he noticed her chin was trembling and one silent tear rolled down her cheek.
"What is it, Jenny? What's the matter?"
 
Jenny didn't say anything but lifted her little hand up to her daddy. And when she opened it, there was her little pearl necklace. With a little quiver, she finally said, "Here, daddy; this is for you."
 
With tears gathering in his own eyes, Jenny's daddy reached out with one hand to take the dime store necklace, and with the other hand he reached into his pocket and pulled out a blue velvet case with a strand of genuine pearls and gave them to Jenny.
 
He had them all the time. He was just waiting for her to give up the dime-store stuff so he could give her the genuine treasure. So it is, with our Heavenly Father. He is waiting for us to give up the cheap things in our lives so that he can give us beautiful treasures.
 
Isn't God good? Are you holding onto things that God wants
You to let go of? Are you holding on to harmful or unnecessary partners, relationships, habits and activities that you have come so attached to that it seems impossible to let go? Sometimes it is so hard to see what is in the other hand but do believe this one thing.
 
God will never take away something without giving you something better in its place.
 
Have a Blessed Day
Dave and Barbara
 
 
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