Thought for the Day 6/18/2021

 Friday Tale - Caring to Stay Positive 

A business man was walking to work downtown in a big city and decided to stop off at his regular newspaper stand to buy a paper. He greeted the newsman very courteously, but in return he received abrupt and discourteous service. The newsman had a very sour disposition. 

   Accepting the newspaper, which was rudely shoved in his face, the business- man politely smiled and wished the newsman a nice weekend.

    As he walked away, a bystander who had observed all of this walked up to the business- man and asked, “Does he always treat you so rudely?”

   “Yes, unfortunately he does,” answered the business-man.

    “And are you always so polite and friendly to him?” asked the bystander.

    “Yes, I am,” said the business-man.

    “Why are so nice to him when he is so rude to you?” the bystander questioned.

     The business-man smiled and then replied, “Unfortunately that man has a negative attitude, but I do not. I have no intention of permitting him to give me one. To permit him to annoy me would be to permit him to ruin my day. I have no intention of doing that. If he wants to be unhappy, that’s his decision and only he can decide to change it. But one thing is for sure and that is, I’m not going to let him decide how I’m going to feel or act!”

    Do you let others control what kind of day you’re going to have, how you’re going to feel, how you will conduct your life or are you like the man in the story who decides for himself how his thoughts will be positive and thereby live a positive life?

~ Anonymous

Now may the God of hope fill you
with all joy and peace in believing,
so that you will abound in hope.
~ Romans 15:13