Your attitude is your choice

Good morning everyone,

Our theme for this month: “Renewed hope”

Our Bible verse for today: “This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24 (NIV)

Our thought for today: “Your attitude is your choice”

I have often found it helpful to personalize Scripture to make it a little more direct and to the point for me personally. Psalm 118:24 is one of those verses. The writer teaches that this day we have before us is a gift from the Lord therefore, let “us” rejoice and be glad in it. I change the wording just a bit so it reads, “This is the day the Lord has made, “I will” rejoice and be glad in it.” In other words, it doesn’t matter if “us” does so or not, “I’m” going to do it. I’m going to rejoice and be glad whether anyone else does or not.

In his book, “The Spartan Way: Eat better. Train Better. Think Better. Be Better,” author Jo De Sena tells a story from the days when he owned a pool maintenance company in the New York area back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. That was during the time when communism was falling across eastern Europe and thousands of people were fleeing those countries and immigrating to the USA. Joe says that he hired many of those immigrants to work for him because they had such a great work ethic. They were overjoyed to be in America – the land of opportunity – and they worked longer and harder than anyone else on the workforce.

For them it was a matter of perspective. They felt so blessed to be here instead of there, and they were so grateful for it, that they made a choice to be happy. They had the exact same working conditions as the others in the work force, and they received the same wages, but their attitude about it was different. They chose to be grateful and joyful – and that made all the difference.

Senneca The Younger was a Stoic philosopher who lived in Rome around the same time as the Apostle Paul. He was known as a very wise man with deep insight. One of his teachings that has survived and been handed down even to our day is, “A man is as miserable as he thinks he is.” Abraham Lincoln, who lived 1800 years after Senneca, took that saying and put a positive spin on it: “Most people are about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

Either way, the lesson is the same: You can choose to be positive or negative; you can choose joy or misery. You will be as miserable as you think you are and as happy as you make your mind up to be. You choose your attitude and the choice you make will depend a lot on your perspective.

This is the day the Lord has made and it is a gift – the gift of life – so choose to rejoice and be glad in it.

God bless,
Pastor Jim

(If you like what you’re reading in these daily devotionals, and if you would like more content from Oak Hill Baptist Church, join us on Sundays at 10:00, in-person if you are nearby or, if you are geographically distant or if you just can’t make it, online at www.YouTube.com/@oakhillbaptistcrossville

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