"Whistle on, Mr. Mailman" (M)

The other day I ran out to the car to get a CD. It was almost like any winter day in Cincinnati, very unpredictable. The day before it had been about 60 and sunny. Today it was a chilly 10, or something that turns your blood to ice, your lips to purple and your fingers to numb. I was thinking, "man,  it's freezing out here." For whatever reason I glanced over to my left to see what looked like the mailman struggling to get the last letter out of the blue mailbox. You know, the one crammed in the corner all crumbled up in the way that makes most people want to rip it up or just close it in there pretending they had never seen it...I kind of laughed thinking, "that stinks" until my thought was interrupted with the sound of the mailman whistling. I looked at his face and on it there was no anger...no discontentment and no furrowed brow...Just a cheerful smirk. He closed the mailbox, got in his truck and went on to the next one...
That day I learned a lesson from this man that he may never know he taught...one that is so simple, yet so profound...choose joy.

A couple weeks later while reading Phillipians 4:8  on the couch with my husband, I read this verse:

"Finally brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report. If there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy, meditate on these things."

So many times I find myself meditating and wasting energy on the opposite of these things... all along I should have been whistling and thinking of the warm sun on the cold winter day...

Thanks mailman and thank God for this lesson learned.