‘Saying the Right Thing’

11/20/2018

I Was Thinking…

Life according to Peanuts can be exactly what we need to hear. Several years ago just before Thanksgiving Day, there was a Peanuts comic strip that pictured Lucy feeling sorry for herself and lamenting, “My life is a drag. I’m completely fed up. I’ve never felt so low in my life.”

Her little brother Linus tries to console her and says, “Lucy, when you’re in a mood like this, you should try and think of things you have to be thankful for; in other words, count your blessings.”

To that, Lucy says, “Ha! That’s a good one! I could count my blessings on one finger! I’ve never had anything and I never will have anything. I don’t get half the breaks that other people do. Nothing ever goes right for me! And you talk about counting blessings! You talk about being thankful! What do I have to be thankful for?”

Linus says, “Well, for one thing, you have a little brother who loves you.”

With that, Lucy runs and hugs her little brother Linus as she cries tears of joy. And while she’s hugging him tightly, Linus says, “Every now and then, I say the right thing.”

It feels good to ‘every now and then say the right thing’. When you have helped someone with a word of encouragement and hope, it just feels good. I think the ‘attitude of gratitude’ of which we focus this time of year is a time to ask ourselves are we saying the right thing to ourselves. Lucy was telling herself the wrong things when the words of Linus bust forth into her life. The words of a little brother’s love broke through the negativity of bad self-talk.

What are we saying to ourselves these days? Are we struggling to be thankful? Have our circumstances turned sour and cause us to see the world as a steep uphill climb? If so, listen to these ‘right words’—we have a God that loves us (and this District Superintendent loves you too). I am thankful for your life. You are precious in the eyes of God. Make sure you’re telling yourself the ‘right thing’. Have a Blessed and Happy Thanksgiving!

Always Thinking…

P.S. Sharon sends her greeting with the words from a wooden pumpkin that resides this time of year in our family room… “Let us be full of thanks and giving!”