Depending on how long you have been involved with technical ministry you have probably met your share of problems, issues and difficulties. I know I sure have. It can be easy to find yourself happy and joyful one minute and total grouch the next. Since most tech leaders are more comfortable behind the scenes it can be easy for us to neglect some of our social skills such as our attitude.
It may not seem like it matters much, but it is important to remember that we are not working in technology for technology's sake but we are doing it for the Kingdom of God.
Are you are a glass half-full kind of person or are you a glass half-empty one? Some people say this shows if you gravitate towards the positive or negative. Personally I think that the glass is always one hundred percent full, half with water and half with air. It is all in how you look at it.
Proverbs 4:23 [GNT] Be careful how you think; your life is shaped by your thoughts.
There is a saying that “you are what you eat.” This means that if you are always eating fat and greasy foods you may end up as a fat and greasy dude. I think that a more appropriate saying is that “you are what you think.” If you are filling your mind with negative thoughts you will likely end up being a negative person. If you fill your thoughts with God's Word you will end up being a Godly person.
Jesus never had the stress of mixing a band of moody musicians, but he did suffer on the cross...
Are you the kind of person that goes around looking for the negative things or do you look for the silver linings behind the clouds? Either way, you will find exactly what you are looking for. If you are looking for negative, you will find it. If you are looking for hope and faith, you will find that too.
It is like the difference between a hummingbird and a vulture. Hummingbirds will zip and dart around looking for some sweet nectar to sip. Meanwhile a vulture just soars overhead, but what is the vulture looking for? Dead things. They are flying in the same airspace, yet one finds something sweet and the other finds a rotting corpse. You find what you are looking for.
Philippians 2:5 [NLT] You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.
We should have the same attitude that Jesus Christ had. Surely he never had the stress of mixing a band of moody musicians, but he did suffer on the cross and yet he never complained. Never once do we see Jesus having a negative attitude. He wants us to have that same attitude.
Sometimes we forget that we are the ones that are in control of our attitude. It is ours to change. Viktor Frankl, a survivor of a Nazi concentration camp, said that the last freedom that can be taken from you is ability to choose your attitude in any situation. This is certainly easier said than done, but it is possible. With Christ's help you can change your attitude.
When negative thoughts come and enter your mind it is important to identify and reject those thoughts. Just let them go. Sometimes just trying to reject them is not good enough though, you actually need to replace those thoughts with something positive.
Philippians 4:8 says that we should fix our thoughts on good and wholesome things. As we put our thoughts on wholesome things it will begin to strip away the negative thoughts that plague us.
Psalm 118:24 [NLT] This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it.
Sunday morning you may come in to find that all of your lighting scenes were deleted or your graphics computer just crashed. Can you rejoice and be glad in that? Did the Lord make that day too, or just all the other ones. Before you let the trials of the day strip away your joy mediate on Psalm 118:24. Make it your commitment to rejoice and be glad in whatever comes your way. God never promised that life would be easy, but he did promise that he would take the journey with us.
