Dear Customers and Friends:
I haven’t been exercising as much as I used to, even though it’s more important now as I’m getting older. So, after a holiday season of feasting, I recently decided to start working out again.
Ugh. That first day was horrible. The weights were too heavy. My muscles ached. I groaned a lot. In a word, it was not enjoyable at all.
But I can be stubborn, and maybe that’s a good thing since I refused to give up. My second day with the weights went a little better and so did the next day and the next. Until, suddenly, I experienced something like a “runner’s high,” an incredible mind-and-body feeling of euphoria after one of the best workouts of my life.
Isn’t my experience in the gym like a lot of things in life? Our bodies were made for moving, but if we sit around, procrastinate and do nothing, then we feel bad.
Levi Lusko, a pastor and best-selling author, says negative thoughts move us toward bad outcomes. He cites the example of someone whose grocery bag breaks, spilling all its contents, then exclaims, “Great, that’s the story of my life!”
You can’t live right, Lusko says, if you don’t think right. This is the similar message in Romans 12:2 where the apostle Paul instructs Christians “to be transformed by the renewal of your mind.”
Instead of waking up in the morning with dread and anticipation of a bad day, Lusko encourages us to rewrite our individual stories with a positive viewpoint: “I am loved. I am blessed. I am valued.”
Like my recent nightmare workout, I know bad things in life are still going to happen. But when it does, I look for a reason. “Okay, God,” I pray, “what is the lesson here?” This is my way of staying positive.
So, let’s get up in the morning with an attitude of a brand-new day filled with promise and appreciation for life. You just might be surprised how a positive start can rewrite your story with an ending that’s happily ever after.
Blessed to be a Blessing,
Greg Syfan
President, Syfan Logistics
“Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” – Philippians 4:8-9