I was out on a wonderful Fall ride on the trail, and had been thinking about a story that my friend had shared with me about how she was currently finding it difficult to navigate a friendship where the other friends involved tended to gravitate more toward negativity and being unkind rather than focusing on positivity and joy.
She mentioned how whenever she was around these two friends, that she felt the negative vibes, and could almost feel herself physically change. She mentioned that she was also down because, in today's world, its sometimes more popular to be sassy, rude and vile than it is to be kind, loving and joyful. That the way they had treated her that day, had made her see that they were making fun of her positivity and light.
She'd asked for my thoughts regarding the situation... and whether I thought it was a good idea to put a boundary between those friends and herself, or to push through and keep herself in the negative spot to maintain the friendship as it was.
It reminded that I had been reading about how you tend to become like the five people you spend the most time with, and how it is really important to surround yourself - your closest people - with those who lift you up, speak truth in love, and will help encourage you to be the person that you want to be.
I was processing through her questions and ideas, and formulating my response, when I rode past this pile of leaves along the edge of the trail. Most of the leaves were brown and rotting. They were wet with rain and blended in together, making it difficult to tell one leaf from the other.
But the reason I had stopped was because of this single, golden leaf, that had landed on the top of the brown ones. It had a different look than the rest of the leaves - bright & gold. It had fallen from a different tree than the other ones and stood out like a shining lamp. It grabbed my attention, and brought her situation into focus.
The world is full of darkness and negativity. So much so, that sometimes it can make us feel like there is no hope and that we are in this alone. Especially when those around us are trying hard to drag us down with them. This is why its so important to surround ourselves with positive people. To remind us who we are, what an important thing we are doing to continue to shine a positive light, and remind us to which Tree we belong. That we are here to Be the Gold in the world. To love others, encourage and be joyful. To shine Christ's light for those who are in a dark place, and help to lift them out when we can.
Especially today, I am reminded that this is not just a fight, its a battle!
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. - John 5:15
Keep Fight the Good Fight - Keep letting your Light Shine...
Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 1 Timothy 6:12
Music : Keep Fighting the Good Fight by Unspoken
https://youtu.be/K0M3X3_pFD4
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