Let your attitude (positive) show!

As I was walking into the fitness club today, I stopped to talked to two of the folks who work there.  Being that it is a beautiful day in Chicago, I asked them the question, "if every day were like today, would people still gripe and complain?"

While we all agreed that there wasn't anything to complain about, we also agreed that people somewhere at some place, would have a crummy attitude about the day.

Here's what I know:  attitude is everything.

Paul writes in Philippians 4:8 that we are to think about, "whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things."

Good words.  Challenging words.

John Maxwell puts it this way, "we can lift people up or take people down in our relationships."

I would add to that, "a church can grow and prosper and be relationally healthy through our attitudes."

Being the lead pastor of our church, one of my responsibilities is to deal with criticism, complaining and negative attitudes.

Some days I feel on top of that - other days (like yesterday and today) I ask God in my conversations with Him, "is there anyone who has a positive attitude"?

Some people add something to life, don't they and we enjoy being around them. 

Some people subtract something from life and we tolerate them.

Some people multiply something in life and we value them.

Some people divide something in life and we avoid them.

I want to be a "lifter" in life.  I want people, when they leave my presence to be encouraged. 

I want them to leave with a healthier positive attitude than when when we met.

Charles Swindoll writes:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on Life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, or say or do. Attitude is more important than appearances, giftedness, or skill. Attitude will make or break a company --- a church --- a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude that we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past, we cannot change the fact that people act a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude --- I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it."

I believe that one of the reasons why we hear so much negativity in the world today is that negative people are vocal, loud, always sharing what they don't like.

Positive people tend to hold back and be silent, soft and keeping to themselves what they do like.

I am saying, this day, this week, this month, this year, let your positive attitude show.  Be vocal about what you do like.  Let people know when they are doing right.  Be positive with people when you don't quite agree with them.

We choose our attitudes.  It's a choice.  And we choice whether or not to let that attitude show.

Let your positive attitude show!