By Andrea Merrell
I knew the answer
to my question before it left my lips, but I asked it anyway … just to be
polite. “How are you today?”
With the familiar
frown I had become accustomed to, the woman proceeded to tell me everything—and
I mean everything—that had gone wrong
that day.
This woman is not
a close friend. She's a virtual stranger in a place of business, someone I see
three to four times a month. In all my dealings with her, I’ve never heard a
single positive word come out of her mouth. I imagine if she won the lottery,
she would tell me she was having a bad hair day, her dog just died, and she had
a headache from trying to figure out how to spend all that ridiculous money. To
me she has become Negative Nelly.
Negativity is a
habit. We train ourselves to look for the bad, while taking all the good in our
life for granted.
The Israelites
were delivered from bondage and slavery, and God provided every single thing
they needed in their journey to the Promised Land. He sent manna from heaven,
gave them water from a rock, and drowned their enemies in the sea. He kept them
well and strong and didn’t even allow their clothing or sandals to wear out. He
was right there with them—in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night—ready to meet their needs, yet all they did was complain. Because of
their negativity, a trip that should have taken twenty-one days lasted forty
years. The worst part is that the majority of them never lived to experience
what God had in store for them.
How many times
have I been like the Israelites, murmuring and complaining instead of being
thankful and praising God for His protection and provision? And how many times
have I voiced those complaints to people who didn’t really want to hear them?
God reminds us
over and over in His Word that we are to be salt and light, full of joy and
peace, offering hope to everyone we meet. That requires a positive mindset and
getting rid of our negative habits.
The next time you
want to share your complaints with someone, remember … no one enjoys a Negative
Nelly.
(Photo
courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net/Ben Schonewille.)
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