Why We Should Make Time For 'Negative' People

I've been procrastinating quite a bit lately (hey, I'm doing it right now). Which means that I have spent hours wasting my life on facebook. I'm not proud..

 
One thing that I've noticed is a decided upsurge in positivity and inspiration. 

I'm glad. People are struggling. People aren't achieving anything. Lives are being wasted (see above). We all need a bit of inspiration. 

What I'm not loving is all of the 

'Don't hang around negative people'

'Don't be around people who don't lift you up and make you feel good about yourself'

'Don't waste your time on people who aren't putting in the effort with you/ contacting you'

style of quotes that I'm seeing.

These are great quotes, and I think that they have a time and place. But they are also rather flawed. 

Here's why-

Everyone needs a friend. Enough said. No? Okay, let's keep going.

(For my fellow Christian readers) Jesus hung around people who were going no-where, were not positive, and were living what-we-would-consider disgusting lives. As his disciples, we want to be like him. Ergo, we should hang around people who are struggling, who are negative, and who might not have the strength to contact us as often as we feel like they should.

I want to quickly add a disclaimer here- if you have a 'friend' who puts you down, makes you feel worthless and horrible, and generally doesn't care about you, then you can certainly do better than them. Side note- if you struggle with your own self-worth issues, then don't surround yourself with people like this.You need positive, uplifting friends.

However, if self-worth and feeling loved and valuable isn't so much an issue for you, then you should be alright. Naturally, I would advise you to be wise in whom you choose to spend time with. But please don't be selfish with whom you choose to spend your time. Because you're not called to associate only with people that you like. You are called to shine Christ's love in a broken, negative, and struggling world.

If the reason that they are struggling is deeper than just being a horrible person (and it usually is), then perhaps you can be the person who hangs around long enough to dig through the gross and get to the gold. 

Every person has value.
Every person needs a helping hand.
Every person struggles sometimes.

Be the kind of person who is willing to put their own feelings aside in order to make someone else feel loved and valued. Just because you don't feel warm and fuzzy when, or after, you see them, doesn't mean that they don't need your positive input and love.  

Basically, hang around people who don't fill your life with positivity and show them Jesus.

Why Christians Should Not Practice Affirmations

My church is a big fan of affirmations. When I first heard them I decided that they were lame and useless. So, I never said them. Then, as I grew older, I started to wonder why these affirmations made me uncomfortable. They kind of reminded me of spells and witchcraft.

I've just come back from a conference designed to help us experience greater freedom and break generational bondage. I've been avoiding going for years, but God finally told me to go. So, I did. We prayed through things and broke off ties. All was well. And then affirmations came up. Apparently, in order to keep living in the freedom that we've gained from this weekend, we need to be saying our affirmations. The suggestion is that we do this 3 times a day for 40 days. I want to paint a fair picture, though.  They also suggested that to keep growing in God we keep spending time with him, attending church, etc.. That's good. My issue here is that instead of meditating on the Word of God and praying to continue to affirm the fact that I am free of whatever bondage I supposedly had, I am supposed to repeat a paragraph of positive self-focused words about my new-found freedom. I feel like I'm getting snarky, because I'm a bit passionate and frustrated, so let's stop with the story and move to some content.

Let's jump into this. Why (I believe that) Christians Should Not Practice Affirmations.

Concerns of a Christian Bookworm

I haven't posted in quite a while. In fact, I do believe that in my last post, I promised to be more regular with my posting. I wont make that promise this time. I am busy, but I do intend to be more frequent. Nevertheless, I can't honestly promise that I will be.

Anyway, onto today's topic-

The concerns of a Christian bookworm:

(aka- the problems that Christians have when they read)

Disclaimer- these are my experiences. Let me know yours in the comments below :) )

1. Praying for the characters. As Christians, we are told to pray about all things (Philippians 4:6). When we practice this, it starts to become second nature. As such, I've found that I pray for the characters and the plot of almost every book that I read. 'God bless them', 'God please look after...', God please heal...', Lord please may they realise...'. I generally catch myself mid-prayer and remember that they are fictional characters in an already-completed novel, but then something else happens and I start praying again.

2. Moralising. It can be difficult if the characters of the book do not share your moral codes. If the book is written in first person, then the reader is more likely to identify with the concerns of the character. If the concerns of the character, and their response to them, do not align with your morals and beliefs, then this may serve as a barrier to your ability to fully enjoy the text. This is certainly not an experience limited to Christians, though.