Whatever

 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

Have you ever had one of those days?  You know, the kind where you wake up late, to the baby who wet through the diaper is screaming his head off.Burning the bacon at breakfast, breaking your favorite glass getting cut off in traffic, and it just goes downhill from there. What is on your mind, on those days?  What is your mind today? 

What we think about sits in the center of our attitude.  Our attitude is what sets the tone for the day.  It fuels our words and sparks our actions.  So…what should we think about?

Whatever:  any amount, to any extent, all encompassing.  Those things, all those things, all parts of all those things that are

• true
• honorable
• right
• pure
• lovely
• of good repute or admirable
• excellent
• worthy of praise.   

But not just thinking, dwelling.  Other versions say think or meditate, but dwell gives the picture of setting up camp, pitching a tent, or building a house.  Dwelling is a permanent state of being.  This isn’t something that we just do first thing in the morning or the last thing at night; this is something that we should always be doing.  

Pray that in this week that God will help you call to mind and dwell on those true, lovely, honorable, right, pure, admirable, excellent and praiseworthy things.  See if it doesn’t make a difference in your attitude, words and actions.