Saturday, March 13, 2010

What I’m Reading Today: 2 Corinthians 13

As a long time sports fan, I like to stay on top of trends within the sports world. Several years ago, I heard of something sports psychologists were using with athletes to enhance their performances. That something involved using a method known as visualization.

This meant that the psychologists would invite athletes to close their eyes and visualize themselves successfully doing the thing they wanted to do. For instance, they would ask a basketball player to visualize him or herself making a free throw in hopes that this would improve the athlete’s free throw shooting.

When I first heard about the practice, I thought it was kind of silly. I didn’t see how such a process could enhance performance. After hearing several athletes talk about how the practice helped them, I grew less suspicious of the method over time. In fact, now it actually makes a good deal of sense to me - for life has taught me that those things we put our minds to more often than not seem to happen.

This is especially true when it comes to the attitude we bring to life. If we are always focused on the negative, for instance, more often than not the negative thing we expect will happen. The apostle Paul seemed to intuitively get that principle – for in today’s passage from 2 Corinthians he spells out to the Corinthians five things they should focus their attention on to create a satisfying life: (1) be cheerful; (2) keep things in good repair; (3) keep your spirits up; (4) think in harmony; and (5) be agreeable. Sounds like good advice.

Today, I would ask you to think about the ways in which you view the world. Do you focus primarily on the negative and expect the world around you to cause you constant pain and frustration; or do you focus on things that are generally more positive and expect the world to be a generally life-affirming place? The attitude with which you engage the world go a long way in determining the kind of world in which you live.

Til next time…