Try Not To Be Negative

17 Mar

“Being negative only makes a difficult journey more difficult.  You may be given a cactus, but you don’t have to sit on it.”  ~ Joyce Meyer

Ouch!  This quote really hits home, I would imagine, for many of us.  After all, we look at what is happening in our lives at the present time and it just seems to be getting worse and worse.  Yesterday, we found out that we were having even more constrictions placed upon us as local bars and restaurants shut their doors in a further attempt to slow the COVID-19 pandemic.

We might be saying to ourselves, “What next?!”  Yes.  What is next?  It doesn’t seem that it can get any worse, does it?

The only problem with pondering that question is that it takes us in the wrong direction.  If we fret about the next thing wrong and the thing wrong after that, we will occupy our minds and hearts with nothing but negativity.  As we all know, negativity gets us no where.  Negativity clouds our judgments.  Negativity keeps us from seeing things as they truly are.  Negativity can prevent us from doing the right thing.

Right now, we’ve been given a cactus.  It is big and prickly and can really do a lot of damage.  But, have you ever seen a cactus bloom?  They have some of the most beautiful flowers when they do.  Instead of focusing on the thorns, let us move forward day by day and await the blooms.

In the meantime, we know what we have to do.  We have to pray.  We have to find time for God.  We have to worship when we get the chance.  If the opportunity to go to Mass becomes severely restricted, we have to find some time to attend a daily Mass or to, at the very least, visit a church and spend silent time with God.

Good can come from the situation we are presently experiencing.  I am certain about that.  I don’t know when.  I don’t know how.  But, I know that good can come because God is with us in everything.

FAITH ACTION:  Ask God for the grace, this day, to be as positive as possible in all that you say and do.