Well, of all things\u2026..yesterday I thought about Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters singing this old song:
You’ve got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don’t mess with Mister In-Between
According to Wikipedia, those lyrics were by Johnny Mercer and the song was nominated for the “Academy Award for Best Original Song” at the 18th Academy Awards in 1945 after being used in the film \u201cHere Come the Waves\u201d. The song was sung in the style of a sermon and explains that accentuating the positive is key to happiness. Mercer shared that his inspiration for the lyrics came from hearing a priest\u2019s message topic that was \u201cYou’ve got to accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative.\u201d
Those words are my inspiration today as well. Here we are eight decades later, and those rhyming words should be emblazoned in our hearts. Those of us who lean toward the positive anyway, should step it up more and those who lean toward the negative should latch on to the positive and affirmative side of life. Even though we may not have been around when that song debuted, I venture to say that most of us have heard those words.
And, quite frankly, it would be great if it came around again. Especially, when I get a peek at daily news clips on my computer. Very little good news is reported. Seriously, being optimistic with an uplifting attitude and sharing that light to everyone around us has the potential to change the course of someone’s day, even their life. But, let\u2019s start with our children. Rather than \u201cprophesying\u201d that they\u2019ll fail that test if they don\u2019t study or they\u2019ll get sick if they don\u2019t put on their coat or they\u2019ll get run over if they don\u2019t look both ways before crossing the street or they\u2019ll miss their bus if they don\u2019t hurry up\u2026.we could have done so much better.
We could have \u201celiminated the negative and latched on to the affirmative\u201d by including statements like: \u201cYou’re going to make it!’ \u201cYou can do it!\u201d \u201cI believe in you!\u201d \u201cYou are special!\u201d \u201cYou have what it takes!\u201d \u201cYou are a champion!\u201d
Those who have little ones can start now by \u201caccentuating the positive\u201d by being the bearer of good news daily to your children. Those of us who have grandchildren, can encourage them into greatness by helping them to unpack all their potential. I want to be a spark that ignites great passion in their lives. As a grandmother, I’m still going to “prophesy” and it will be about their success and good things in their lives.
The simplest things we might say and do, which, though seemingly ordinary, carry an immense weight in telling our children they are loved, cared for, and valued. I remember childhood experiences when I sensed the approval of a parent, a teacher or loved one. The ultimate Father figure we have is Father God, and it would behoove us to follow His example in affirming our children and others. Looks at these examples that He sets from His Word.
He gives… An arm over the shoulder or an embrace in a time of disappointment or fear (Deuteronomy 33:27)
A pat on the back or a firm steadying hand at a crucial moment (Psalm 139:5)
A whisper in the ear, giving quiet assurance or secret instructions (Isaiah 30:21)
A snug tucking in bed when surrounded by the darkness of night (Psalm 127:2-3)
But the most affirming are those blessings that come in our words: words that affirm and approve; words that commend and compliment; words that specifically speak love and affection; words that invoke hope and self-confidence; and words that answer pain and disappointment with support and faith. May our words and actions bring light and life to our family and our world today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Well, of all things\u2026..yesterday I thought about Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters singing this old song: You’ve got to accentuate the positive Eliminate the negative Latch on to the affirmative Don’t mess with Mister In-Between According to Wikipedia, those lyrics were by Johnny Mercer and the song was nominated for the “Academy Award for…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22698,22697],"tags":[8282,3674,1210,4720,1769,19942,583,40,22695,6112,7670,2266,3146,451],"class_list":["post-15505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-accentuate-the-positive","category-negativity","tag-accentuate-the-positive","tag-affirmative","tag-blog","tag-champion","tag-christian","tag-eliminate-the-negative","tag-good-news","tag-inspiration","tag-mister-in-between","tag-negative","tag-positive","tag-role-model","tag-staying-positive","tag-success"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15505"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15508,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15505\/revisions\/15508"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}