Advent: Keeping a Positive Attitude

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Sunday - 9:15 AM Sunday School, 10:30 AM Worship Service

by: Denise Robinson

12/03/2021

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"More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23).


Ace Collins, author of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, writes that a friend once asked him to identify the most important person in his life. He rattled off a long list of people, starting with family then moving to his friends, pastor, doctor, lawyer, and neighbor. After assuring him that he was the most positive, upbeat person she had ever met, she informed him that the most important person in his life was the garbage collector. Why? Because if the garbage collector quit coming to his house, his trash would start rotting, and with that decay, rodents and insects would move in. In that kind of a world, it would be all but impossible to maintain a positive attitude. 

It's easy, especially when we get busy and feel stressed, to lose our perspective. When demands on our time and energy are overwhelming, our mood dramatically changes. Frustration and impatience set in. 
Imagine for a moment the plight of Joseph and Mary. As they looked forward to Jesus's birth, the government of Rome forced them out of their home and onto the highway. The fact that a baby was on the way did not matter. Roads were jammed and inns were packed - and, no doubt, people were impatient, frustrated, and rude. What would your attitude have been?


As destructive as holding on to our physical garbage can be, clinging to our mental garbage carries an even greater risk. It not only affects our attitudes toward those around us, but it defines us to the world. How do we get rid of mental trash? We give it to God through prayer. Prayer allows us to put things into perspective. It gives us the ability to state our feelings out loud with "editing" them. It gives us the ability to forgive and move forward. It permits us to sift through what is important and throw away that which is not. This holiday season, remember that compared to Mary, you've got it easy. Don't get so busy that you forget to pray.

When Columbia Records produced the very first electronic recording on March 31, 1925, the company featured a Christmas carol written by a Catholic priest in 1750; 175 years after it was written, the carol became a "hit" due to the recording. Since then, it has been recorded thousands of times:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, 
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the King of angels,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.
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"More than anything you guard, protect your mind, for life flows from it." (Proverbs 4:23).


Ace Collins, author of The Most Wonderful Time of the Year, writes that a friend once asked him to identify the most important person in his life. He rattled off a long list of people, starting with family then moving to his friends, pastor, doctor, lawyer, and neighbor. After assuring him that he was the most positive, upbeat person she had ever met, she informed him that the most important person in his life was the garbage collector. Why? Because if the garbage collector quit coming to his house, his trash would start rotting, and with that decay, rodents and insects would move in. In that kind of a world, it would be all but impossible to maintain a positive attitude. 

It's easy, especially when we get busy and feel stressed, to lose our perspective. When demands on our time and energy are overwhelming, our mood dramatically changes. Frustration and impatience set in. 
Imagine for a moment the plight of Joseph and Mary. As they looked forward to Jesus's birth, the government of Rome forced them out of their home and onto the highway. The fact that a baby was on the way did not matter. Roads were jammed and inns were packed - and, no doubt, people were impatient, frustrated, and rude. What would your attitude have been?


As destructive as holding on to our physical garbage can be, clinging to our mental garbage carries an even greater risk. It not only affects our attitudes toward those around us, but it defines us to the world. How do we get rid of mental trash? We give it to God through prayer. Prayer allows us to put things into perspective. It gives us the ability to state our feelings out loud with "editing" them. It gives us the ability to forgive and move forward. It permits us to sift through what is important and throw away that which is not. This holiday season, remember that compared to Mary, you've got it easy. Don't get so busy that you forget to pray.

When Columbia Records produced the very first electronic recording on March 31, 1925, the company featured a Christmas carol written by a Catholic priest in 1750; 175 years after it was written, the carol became a "hit" due to the recording. Since then, it has been recorded thousands of times:
O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, 
O come ye, O come ye, to Bethlehem.
Come and behold him, born the King of angels,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
O come, let us adore him,
Christ the Lord.
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