BiblicalInsights.net

     Tommy Newberry gives an interesting assessment of the type of thinking that destroys joy in his book, The 4:8 Principle.  The book is based upon Philippians 4:8 and stresses positive thinking over negative thinking.  Under the heading, Head Games,he mentions RAT’s (really awful thoughts).  RAT’s terrorize your potential for joy (p. 107).  He then lists some of these negative thinking patterns.
     –Amplifiers.  Amplifiers magnify unpleasant situations with words like: always, never, no one, every time, etc.  These words are distortions of the truth and pervert perceptions. 
     –Feelers.  Feelers accept negative feelings as true without questioning them.  Feelings are no substitute for the truth.  When feelings are based upon perverted perceptions the result is negative conduct.
     –Guessers.  Guessers pretend they know what other people are thinking, and then they assume the worse ahead of time (p. 107).  This fuels negativity.
     –Exaggerators.  Exaggerators transform mole hills into mountains.  They use words like horrible, worst, ruined, shocked, stunned, devastated, and outraged.  They, too, distort reality.
     –Identifiers.  Indentifiers inject harmless events with personal meaning.  They overestimate how an event is related to them.  They take things too personally and interpret negative events as personal attacks.
     –Forecasters.  Forecasters predict worst case scenarios.  They are the doom and gloom group.
     –Cynics.  Cynics find what is wrong even if it is the only thing wrong! (p. 108).  Despite the good, they use their mental radar to see the bad.
     –Blamers.  Blamers point the finger at someone else for their own problems.  Blaming others liberates them from personal responsibility for their attitudes and actions.
     –Justifiers.  Justifiers remind themselves of all the reasons why they are entitled to feel negative emotions or have a negative outburst. (p. 109).
     These RATs must be eliminated from our thinking if we are going to experience the joy that God intends for our lives.  Joy is “an outward sign of inward faith in God’s promises” (p. 42).  Joy is connected to spiritual relationship with God.  If there is no spiritual connection with God, then there can be no real joy.  “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice”  (Phil. 4:4).

     The following poem was written by Nancy Merical.  It is titled, “Tapestry.”  I found this poem in Ideals, Vol. 54, NO. 4, Sept. 1997.  Many have requested it from me, so I decided to put it on my blog.
     We weave our cloth of life with threads
     Of hours and days we’re given
     And make a pattern that reflects
     The face of God in heaven.
     He gives us days of greatest joy
     That cast a lovely hue.
     But days of sorrow we must bear
     For darker colors too.
     Some days have trials woven in
     That give our cloth its strength,
     So other days that are misused
     Won’t cause a tear or rent.
     Friends add texture to our cloth
     And shining highlights leave:
     New ones silver, old ones gold
     Affect the warp and weave.
     Faith is the shuttle we employ
     To weave a better cloth,
     And love we use to weave it too;
     Love makes it smooth and soft.
     Some days we weave silken threads
     And some days coarse and rough;
     One day’s threads are stout and strong,
     Another’s softest fluff.
     But when our cloth of life is woven
     And taken from the frame,
     It is unique, one of a kind;
     None other is the same.
     For though the same days we are given,
     We use them differently
     And make a pattern all our own
     In God’s great tapestry.