Blessings from Belleview: Of commercials and politics

For the first time in months, my wife and I sat back and enjoyed watching television without the constant barrage of relentless political advertising.  Whether you like the results of the elections or not, if you are anything like me, you are extremely glad that the commercials are over.  Peace has arrived upon our television screens and sanity has returned.  Soon we will be hammered with the reminder of the upcoming Christmas season.  Recently we were blessed with the presence of a young family, David and Izabel Warren and their 15 month old daughter Samantha, who will soon depart to their Brazilian mission field on December 12.  They stayed with us for four nights.  One night while watching television, a political advertisement came on.  I cringed, as I have done often this year.  I was so ready for this to be over.  I complained at how far we had fallen and how brutal it had gotten.  Oh, how I complained.  After the commercial, I asked Izabel, who is Brazilian, how long had she been in the United States.  “Four years” was her prompt response.  I was interested in Brazilian politics in comparison to American politics.  She had been here long enough to witness the political process, especially over the last year.  She has seen the commercials.  She has seen the deep divide.  Her answer was unexpected: “Brazilian politics is worse”.  As she described political life in Brazil, suddenly I became aware of one glaring truth.  No matter how often we miserably complain about circumstances, no matter how disgruntled we get concerning the situations we face, no matter how loudly we murmur, someone is worse off than us.  Sometimes, we just need to focus more on the positive to put things in better perspective in life.  Focusing on the negatives will bring us to negative outlook in life.  There is always a positive…somewhere.  We just need to find it and focus on it.  With Thanksgiving fast approaching, it is that focus which will help us to develop a thankful spirit, even when the going gets tough.
Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8)