Looking for a Pony
Bible Reading: Philippians 4:6-9
Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right. Philippians 4:8
A mom and dad were having trouble with their twin boys. One was abnormally happy all the time. The other boy found something bad about everything. After a while the parents decided to take their two sons to a child psychologist.
The psychologist claimed to have an easy cure. He placed the too happy boy in a room filled with horse manure and a pitchfork. Figuring this would cure the boy’s overly joyful spirit, the doctor told him to dig. Then he left the boy alone. He took the always crabby boy into a room filled with new toys and candy. He was free to play with it all. “That should cure him of his dark outlook on life,” exclaimed the psychol¬ogist. “We’ll come back in a few hours and see.”
When the psychologist and parents returned to the room full of toys and candy, they were shocked to see the little boy sobbing in the middle of the floor. “I might hurt myself if I play with these toys,” he cried, “and the candy might give me a tummy ache.” All the wonderful things around him hadn’t snapped him out of his pessimistic attitude.
“Well, surely your other boy will be cured,” claimed the psychologist, trying to sound confident. Peering into the second room, the adults were astounded to see the boy digging through the manure in a fury. The boy’s mom tried to get him to slow down, but he was so busy that he only paused to say, “With all this manure, there must be a pony in here somewhere!”
Talk about this: Are you more like the little boy looking for the pony—or the boy afraid of the tummy ache?
We have to admire positive thinking. If we don’t have it, we’ve got to get some!
Negative thinking won’t get us anywhere in life. Negative thinking makes us crabby. It also blocks out all the good things God says about us.
Thinking positively, however, draws out the potential—in us and in the people around us. Positive thinking can’t make something true that isn’t. It can’t find a pony in a pile of manure if the pony isn’t there. But positive thinking is a great advantage when we focus on what is positively true about us according to God’s Word.
If you believe God’s Word and what God says about you being his special child, you will discover that God has prepared gifts for you that are even bigger and better than a pony.
TALK: Are you always crabby about life? Make a list of positive things to think about from Philippians 4:8.
PRAY: God, give us a positive outlook on life based on your Word. Help us gain a positive perspective from the Bible.
ACT: Pay attention to your attitude today. Are you thinking negatively—or remembering all the positive things God puts in your life?