The Porch Light copyright by Revka (2006-2010). All rights reserved.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Help Meet Ch. 3


Help Meet Chapter 3
A Thankful Spirit

"A Merry Heart vs. a Poor-Me Attitude"

  1. I love this quote: "A wise woman sets a joyful mood in her home. Through laughter, music, and happy times, she creates a positive attitude in her children. She knows that a lighthearted home relieves her husband of stress." I have found that if I want to introduce some peace and calm to our home, I can play Scott Roberts' CD "I Sing Because", and my spirit just relaxes. The music itself is not slow tempo or boring, but it is peace-inducing for me. That's just an example of one way I have found to deliberately set the mood and atmosphere of our home.
  2. Debi reminds me that being discontented with our physical or spiritual circumstances is dishonoring to God and to my husband. Like Paul I should learn to be content in whatever state I am. There can be no lasting happiness without contentment. If I am looking to my circumstances for my happiness, my level of happiness will always be changing because my circumstances are always changing.
  3. Truthfully, "discontentment is not a product of circumstances; it is a state of the soul." Proverbs 15:15 says, "All the days of the afflicted are evil: but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast" God says that I am to be content when I have food and clothing, and the amount I actually NEED of those items is not as great as I think it is.
  4. Debi stated that the old adage is true, practice truly does make perfect. The question is, what am I practicing? Am I continually hitting the sour notes of discontent, bitterness, anger, frustration, hurt feelings, and the like? It won't take long before that is where I naturally turn. Everything will be filtered through the glasses of my negative, unthankful spirit, and I will be hard pressed to find happiness and joy in anything. The good news is that the opposite is true: the more I practice responses of gratitude and thankfulness, the easier those repsonses will become.
  5. Here are ways to practice those happy notes: Be thankful. Smile. Stop and laugh at the little things that steal my joy. Count my blessings and learn to be appreciative. Look for things for which I can be thankful.

In summary: "You can practice joy and thanksgiving. Every day, every right response makes the fingers of your soul find the notes of joy and thanksgiving easier and easier [sic]."

Added note 7/28/06: I chose this photo because it makes me think of how a thankful spirit radiates beauty.

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