By Elaina Simpson, C.S.
The Bible tells us to hold onto what's good. Some translations say, "hold fast," "cleave to," "cling to..." Seeing this statement spiritually, we know it's all about our thinking, or, where our thoughts lie. In prayerful evaluation of what we hold in our thinking, we may ask ourselves, Am I clinging to the good? Sometimes it may feel like a challenge to see the good in ourselves or others. But the Bible wouldn't ask (or even demand) us to do an impossible task. It was written there for us to read because we are capable of doing it! In fact, it's actually divinely natural for God's children to hold to what's good. When I had a challenge with an individual as a young girl, a family member would say to me, "Take the good [about them]!" I knew my family member didn't mean shoving the problem under the rug, so-to-speak. And, it wasn't some kind of toxic positivity. To me, it meant that even in challenging situations, we can hold to what's good. If someone ever said something to me that seemed harsh, I could hold to all the good about them. Holding onto the good meant that I was not going to let the harshness expand in my thinking. Doing this always made me feel better. All the good I saw, overpowered all the 'bad' that seemed to be so apparent before. Recently, I had to think back on this lesson. Someone in my community seemed to be consistently rude to others, including me. While at first it felt tempting to not engage with this person, I remembered I could hold to the good. I started to think about the good qualities this individual expressed. One of those things was the beauty this individual expressed through his beautiful outdoor garden. One day, when the rudeness was directed at me, I noted the beautiful garden (it just spilled out!) I was surprised when the individual smiled so big! I had never seen them smile like that before, or even at all. At first I was surprised about that reaction, but it actually made sense why they were so happy about that comment-- Because we each yearn to know our natural expression of God's goodness. Ever since then, I have witnessed more of this person's gentleness and they have even sent some compliments my direction. As we know, Good is just another word for God. When we cling to the good and hold to it, we are holding to our understanding of God. We see God, Good expressed in ourselves and others. We see what God, Love sees about Her beautiful creation. This heals and it benefits our relationships. Have a fun evening holding to the good!
Elaina
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