No Negative Nancy's*

The past few months seem like a crazy whirl wind of experiences, lessons learned, and valuable memories. Fall semester and J-term have come and gone. Now the final countdown of Spring semester has commenced and then my Taylor chapter will close and a new beginning will start. While this semester will be intense (and honestly, I'm a little nervous about it), I feel ready for the challenge and exhilarated by the chance to produce an awesome senior paper and do a victory dance when I'm finished with it. :)

I'm opinionated person. That's not anything new. I think deeply and a lot. Added to my passionate self, this creates a over zealous and stubborn opinion on ideas. It's good and bad at the same time. Over all, I have learned how to listen and mold what I think based on new points of views and developments, but I still stick to what I believe.

Now there's nothing wrong with that. It's probably a good thing that I stand for what I believe in, but there's a point when opinionated becomes cynicism and cynicism leads to negativity. Take J-term for example: It was a great trip. I learned a lot, made great memories, and got to know people better. But what do I tell people about the trip? That is was the weirdest trip I've ever been on, that is a super unorganized, that I didn't (and still don't) understand it's purpose, that I would have led it differently.

Or take Chapel: On a normal bases, chapel at Taylor is a great experience. It's refreshing for my soul. I love the fellowship of worshipping with the rest of the student body. I am challenged to grow in my relationship with God and have a great opportunity to worship God. But what ends up being the topic of lunch and dinner conversations? How the chapel songs were weird. Or the band leader was awkward. The speaker's message didn't make any sense and how cheesy ending 90's songs are. We talk about how we would have worded something differently and how a minor point was just wrong.

Or this PSTRAT paper: It's going to be wonderful learning all about ministry and the potential for building relationships between the urban and suburban believers. By the end, I will be proud of the paper and able to give it to potential employers. I will learn a deeper and broader level of the Kingdom of God, God's love for the poor, and the unity found in the body of Christ. I get to hang with CE-ers and create large bonding times writing this enormous thing. But what do I tell people about: All the requirements for it, how much time it will take and how I won't have a life, how I don't really understand how my prof grades, how I don't find him very encouraging yet, and how it's just a huge pain and going to take over my life and I will never graduate.

And the scary thing is, the negativity is not just coming from me. The majority of people around me are in the same boat. We feed off of each other's complaining and negative comments- and loving every moment of it. It consumes our thoughts, consumes our conversations, and consumes our actions. It's everywhere in our society- an epidemic ready to kill.

But, it's supposed to be different for those who follow Jesus. Philippians 4:8 says "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- thing about such things." One of the surest ways people will see and know that believers are different is through what they say. If they were in our conversations, would they see a difference? Would they see love that we have for each other? Or love of life and the responsibility and privileges God gives us? And are we glorifying God through our thoughts and conversations? "Whatever you do, whatever in word or deed, do it all for the glory of Christ."

So the questions I ask myself are "What happened to my optimism?" and "Why do I only focus on the bad things?" "How am I glorifying Jesus? How am I different from the world?" Maybe it's time we all asked these questions.

*My mom's name is Nancy. I am not implying that she is negative. It just happens to be a phrase that was unjust made with her name. :)