This week has been one full of thinking. Do you ever have one of those days when you lay down to go to sleep thinking.....”WOW I really said a lot of negative stuff today.” Or leave a conversation thinking "everything that came out of my mouth there was nasty?" What about when we are talking about co-workers, talking to friends, talking about our significant other, talking about our problems, talking about how we are so done with so and so....do we even realize how often negative thoughts turn into words and leave our lips? 

How often do you dwell on them? 

How often do you mention them? 

How many people do you tell?


Do we even realize that we speak more negativity than positivity into situations? I know I don't.

Did you know that it takes 4 positive comments about someone or something to one person before they think positively after you make ONE negative comment?

JUST THINK ABOUT THAT.

For instance, say that I tell you “I hate not having my own house." (Which I say far too often) It would take 4 positive comments about the same situation to get you to see that 1 issue in a positive light. So I would have to say.

“It saves us tons of money.”

“I know God has a plan.”

“I can only make sure I am a blessing while i am there.”

“I love having a roof over our head.”

just to get you to see that situation differently.


    What I am trying to say is, if it takes 4 positive comments to 1 negative one, to change someone’s view on something. IMAGINE what we do to our own mentality throughout the day. Thinking things like

I can't believe him

That was a stupid thing to say

I look so ugly today

I hate this place

I look bad in that photo

I can't take it anymore


We seem to just bash ourselves and those around us with destructive thoughts over and over. Try just for a day to pay attention to what you are thinking about what goes on around you. Just see how many positive things you think a day. Because usually we don't think the positive things, 

    The other day I found some negatives from photos my husband and I took on our honeymoon. When I pulled them out of the trunk and held them up to the light to see them better, a thought crossed my mind. When I am going through something I see as negative… I tend to make it my focal point. The funny thing is when you walk into people’s homes you don’t ever see the negatives of images hanging out on the walls for people to see. All you see the REAL pictures,because a negative image doesn’t share the real life details or colors with people around you. What you see is a direct opposite of reality. When you see the real image you see details a negative would never have given you.
    Sometimes negative things push us to be more than we knew we could be. If we hadn't come through some negative circumstances in our life we would not be able to accept some of the good that comes our way. For instance, If you lose your job, you may find one where you are needed more, where you might enjoy it more, or you might rediscover an old passion for something. You never would have done that if a "bad thing" hadn't pushed you out of your safe zone. There is always a way to look at what the rest of the world calls a bad thing, and see an open door for opportunity. 

Just like holding a negative up to a light makes it easier to see the details, taking our bad situation and changing how we view it can give us a new perception. Yet,even then the image is still not high quality. That is why we entrust into the developer the fact that we can’t see the whole picture until we let the image develop and be dipped into some harsh chemicals to do some processing. Once processed the image is clearer and more defined. 

When we find ourselves focusing on all of the negatives that life hands us, we have to remember that we can’t really see the whole picture. What we are looking at is only a small piece of the picture. It has to be processed, through trials and tribulations to result in a beautiful picture that our life can only be once we entrust it to God. A bad situation isn't anything that matters when the end comes to surface. Once we can remember to look at the whole picture we can see that there is more to that one negative circumstance than first meets the eye. When we are brought down into a negative state, we have the choice, (whether we realize we do or not) to either focus on the issue at hand in a negative way, or to hold that negative up to the light. We can turn it over to our developer,and hold it up to God’s word and see how small our point of view is. In the Bible it says specifically that his thoughts are higher than our own. And if we kidnap that mentality of not always knowing. Of not always seeing how it ends. The ability to see the positive in the issue of the negative becomes easier and easier. 

Isaiah 55:8-9

New International Version (NIV)

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the Lord.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Matthew 10:29-31
 
 New International Version (NIV)

29 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? 
Yet not one of them will fall to the ground 
outside your Father’s care.[a] 
30 And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
 31 So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.



“But as I look back at my life, 
it is easy to see that the times when my wisdom and understanding grew to new levels; 
those times when I approached becoming the person I long to be;
 it was always the times that followed negative circumstances.” 
— Vic Johnson 

“But those (negative) situations are often pregnant 
with useful life lessons and opportunities for growth.  
The most disastrous times have produced the greatest minds.  
The purest metal comes of the most ardent furnace; 
the most brilliant lightning comes of the darkest clouds.” 
-François-René Chateaubriand

Speak life sisters! 

- Jessica Smith Wallace



Leave a Reply.