Aug 26, 2013

Attitude in the Altitude

by Kevin Butler

 

Thomas Edison once said, “Good fortune is what happens when opportunity meets with planning.”

SDBs once again had the opportunity to gather for our annual Conference sessions. Thanks to much hard work and Spirit-led planning by President Ralph Mackintosh, we most certainly experienced a week of good fortune! God showed up in Colorado Springs!

Oh, sure, we heard some complaints:

–It’s a long walk between the dorm and the meeting room!

–It’s a bit cramped in the cafeteria!

–Isn’t it raining more than usual?

–What? No Conference Crier daily newspaper?

Those were tiny nuisances compared to the supreme benefits and positives of the week. For the long walk: maybe you got more exercise than normal. For the smaller eating facility: maybe it moved you along so you didn’t eat as much. For the rain: yeah, it stunk, but that one’s out of our hands. And for the Conference Crier: there were live streaming computer broadcasts and videos of the events posted soon after.

How is your attitude? Do you focus on what’s missing or rejoice in what’s provided?

And this goes beyond our Conference meetings. Are we nitpicking the faults our local church and pastor so much that the benefits are being missed?  Are we ignoring the great grace and love and gifts of our Lord Jesus?

William Arthur Ward wrote, “The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

Let’s adjust the sails of our attitudes and pray—as Rod Henry challenged us on Sabbath day at Conference—that the Lord show us His more preferable future for our churches, and then walk in it!