I attended an all-day MK educational/work event yesterday. With a fresh start to a new year, I’ve been encouraged to experiment with my daily walk with God. I now want to make little tweaks to my daily routine to positively affect my livelihood in a HUGE way.
Although my husband and I have disciplined ourselves to include daily devotionals a part of our lives, I want my own discipline for me. My MK director encouraged me to wake up each morning thanking God for 10 blessings in my life. Yesterday, I wrote out a simple list of 10 things I’m grateful for, whether they’re material, spiritual or just personal items, I was sure to list them. My list of thanks included the following (in no particular rank or order):
1. My husband
2. My spiritual life
3. My spiritual wisdom
4. Our house
5. Our car
6. Our puppies
7. The health of our pregnancy
8. Our friends
9. Our family
10. My overall great life
It took only seconds to think of 10 things to be grateful for at that moment. My New Year’s resolution is to start off the day with a positive attitude so I can always expect great things to come. I have it in me to be the infectious positive influence to those around me. I could never see myself as being the killjoy in the group. I want to leave any room satisfied knowing that I may have brightened up someone’s day by just being happy and grateful for the blessings in my life. I have the wisdom to know that in order to start my day with “positive expectancy,” I must start from a place of gratitude. As Ed Young Jr., the emphatic preacher at Fellowship Church in Grapevine, TX suggests, I too strongly believe negative people are smaller than positive people in the grand scheme of things. But sometimes there are those influential people in our lives who seem to bring the cloud of darkness into every situation.
For instance, there was someone who was once a part of my church and social life. Although she’s been blessed with beauty, talent, creativity and outgoing charm, she seems to ALWAYS be miserable. Every time she walks into a room, instead of cheerfully greeting those she’s around, she dumps her ongoing struggles and problems. She can’t just be happy, and I can’t understand it. Every sigh she releases is one of frustration, disappointment and/or disgust with all things or people in her life. It’s as if her mission is to bring the storm rather than infect people with positivity. I wish I had the guts to ask her, why would you want to be the negative interruption in people’s lives? If you really care and love those around you, why dump your problems and frustrations on them? Does that show that you truly care and love them?
As my MK director so beautifully stated, “When you want more, you must be grateful for where you are now.” Positive expectancy is an area of attitude change that brings about abundance in life. We all want more and I’m sure we all feel we deserve more in our own right. Some of us work towards achieving more by surrounding ourselves with people who think bigger than us. Others surround themselves with people they aspire to one day be like. Purposely surrounding yourself in positively influential surroundings is a means of striving for positive expectancy, I believe. As I’ve stated in a previous blog post back on July 12, 2010, we are where we are by the choices we make. Why not choose to be positive? Why not be the person that infects positivity that leaves a lasting impression? It’s totally do-able, but only if we choose to be happy for where we currently are and purposely begin from a place of gratitude. Would you agree that we all have so many things to be thankful for?
But it’s so much easier said than done. In fact, this morning I already began complaining with my fears and worries about bringing home baby. We have our marriage and careers, 3 dogs and a house to care for. It’s daunting to think about juggling these while trying to figure out how to raise a child. I’m plagued with doubts… how am I ever going to learn how to care for this baby when I’ve got 3 yapping pups and other important priorities surrounding me? It’s hard enough at the beginning…but I’ve already set expectations that it’s going to be a nightmare at first. So what if it is? I’m a strong woman blessed with a huge support system. There is no reason I should dread how hard the first few weeks with baby could potentially be. Envisioning the stress and frustration at this point already negates my intention to live by positive expectancy. Why can’t I just expect that God will guide me as I find a way and make a way?
It’s so much easier said than done! But at this point, all I can do is trust that through my faith in the Lord and by positively expecting things could actually work out for the better, already my attitude can bring about a HUGE change in me. Coming from a place of gratitude for my support system and faith will set me up for living each day with positive expectancy. As I’ve stated in the beginning of this long post, that’s exactly my point!
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