"And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise." -Philippians 4:8

Do you ever notice that it's often easier to think about the negative things, rather than the positive? Sometimes it's easier to focus on your hardships, how you were wronged, how the kids are driving you crazy....

The Lord instructs us through the Apostle Paul's words above to change our thinking. Instead of focusing on the negative, look at the good things around you.

I remember when my boy was about two.....we had just moved him into a big boy bed, and he was finally sleeping in his own room for the whole night. He would wake up and come rushing out to greet us. One day I realized that instead of greeting him in a positive way, my shoulders would slump, my posture was one of defeat, and my first thought was "UGH, he's UP!". Granted, I was tired, and didn't have a whole lot of "me-time" at that time. But can you imagine being greeted that way every morning by someone that you love?

The Lord brought this to my attention, and showed me that a little change in attitude could go a long way for both of us. Every morning, from that point on, I would put on a big smile on my face and greet him with my cheeriest voice. I'll be honest, it took a little while for my heart to match my words and my tone, but before long I found that I really was happy to see him when he woke up.