By Karen Y. Stevens

My walking partner, Sue was talking about a Bible Study she is attending, and the question was asked, “Have you ever tried to be the best spouse you can be?” We all want to be the best at our job, or the best at sports, painting, fishing, writing, or whatever your passion is, but have you ever wanted to be the best friend you could be?

My Pastor spoke on having positive thoughts. Not the ones where you say, “I wish it, or think it, so it will happen.” No, the ones that renew your mind, and change your attitude; the ones that change the way you think about someone.

I marked my calendar on my phone, for the entire month of November, to have positive thoughts about various people.

Do you every have those thoughts when you have been praying for someone, but they continually have horrible behavior toward you; and then something bad happens in their life, and the first thought that pops in your head is, “God finally punished them! Yay.” When I have these thoughts; (Oh, I mean when someone else has these thoughts. I would never have thoughts like that!) I immediately ask God to forgive me, and help me love that person. Then I really try hard to pray a blessing in their life, which is sometimes not easy.

Sometimes my prayers are “God, have your perfect will in their life.”

And that’s about all I can pray, but even that meager prayer helps me not to be bitter or angry, even when they have not been a friend to me.

God will show me something about them, that helps my attitude be just a little bit different. God never ask us to be perfect in our actions, thoughts or attitudes.

Throughout the Bible it is constantly reminding us to stay on task.

God wrote encouraging words, because He knew we are not perfect. He knew we needed constant uplifting for us to continue toward Him each day.

It says in 2 Timothy 4:7 “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”

Obviously, there is a fight to do this, or it would not say “he fought the good fight”. We must fight for good, to overcome our ways of bad tendencies.

Matthew 7: 13 & 14 says “¹³ Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴ But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

We must continue to fight our way ever day to the path that leads to life and God. Don’t give up just because you got off the path. Find the path, get back on it, and continue to fight.

Karen Y. Stevens is founder of the Orange County Christian Writers Guild