Dear Singleton...Part 3

Meditate on the lovely

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes 

And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

Philippians 4:8 New Living Translation (NLT)

The scripture verse above is my inspiration for this post but does not reflect the reality of life for everyone, even those belonging to the Christian faith. As an average human being living in this world, life will give you plenty to worry about, vex about and despair about. So where do you find the motivation to even reflect on the pleasant things in life?

Let me tell you a little about my reality this week.

This past week was stressful for me. Not only was it stressful but was also discouraging. Each passing day, I wanted to quit the temporary job I have been blessed with. I felt like it was beyond my skillset especially because I had to adjust my character to be soft and firm when the occasion demanded. Many times I felt that I wasn't the right fit for the job and became discouraged. I spent most of my time counting down the hours till the close of day. I even contemplated the sort of future I might have if I missed out on some typical family expectations/experiences. I bet you are curious about the job and the things I contemplated - right?

Every morning journey to work, I would think about what I would do if my worst fear happened. Through the day, I would doubt myself as stand-in manager. And every night I would replay the mistakes I had made during the day. And that was my daily thought pattern.

Now the funny thing is, the quote above which was one of the week day's verse of the day on the Youversion Bible stayed in my notifications for a good 3 days straight after it first appear. No kidding. 

If you use that Bible app, you'll know that they have a daily verse of the day. It will usually appear in my notifications every day (if enabled) but it seemed that this particular verse of the day was stuck and new ones were not appearing. All the better though . Because God was giving me that message and my mind really needed a break from all the negative thoughts. 

The word for us all from this blog post and from God to us is to always think/mediate/ponder or simply in one single word Focus on the good. This habitual effort of good thinking gives one a positive outlook in life, enriches one's life and is beneficial for a better physical and mental well-being.

Side note: For more on the benefits of 'having a laugh', my sister taught on this at church recently. I'll see if I can get her to do a talk for your benefit 😉.

“So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today.

Matthew 6:31‭-‬34 NLT

God [Jesus] encourages us to not worry about what we will eat or drink and requests that we give Him our burdens instead. In other words, don't worry about anything at all because I have taken care of it and as your Father, your Friend, your Helper and your Comforter, it's my duty to be there for you when you begin to feel anxious about it all.

Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done.

Philippians 4:6 NLT

It's very reassuring that it doesn't matter your level of faith or lack of faith in God thereof, He still is there, loving you in the beautiful, good, sad, crazy, stressful, lonely and the 'urgh 😫😒' seasons of life. We get heartbroken, disappointed, alone and pity ourselves when things take a turn for the worse with our romantic partners (or dates).

Apart from a few unpleasant lessons in love, don't we have much more pleasant things going on for us? I know from my sphere of influence and within my acquaintances that the singles I know, are content in their single season; which is great. So there isn't much encouragement to give in that area. But for the area where we struggle with negative thoughts, let's focus on the brighter side.

So I'm turning over a new leaf with that job I mentioned and the stand-in manager role I disliked. For the rest of the weeks on the job, in my mind, it will be only positive thinking allowed.

Let's take up the positive thoughts challenge. Who's with me? 🙋‍♀️

Till next time,

Happy living!

Claudy xoxo