B+

An old college friend said something one time that has stuck with me. She said that when she found out that her blood type was B-positive, she decided to make that her life's goal. After all, it was in her blood.

Today a friend and I were talking about being positive. It's a lifestyle...How do you get there? Are some people just born with that ray-of-sunshine-ness? Is it learned? Is it a conscious effort?

We settled on this answer: yes, it's all of those. But we also determined that one's level of positiveness is in direct proportion to one's level of faith. Jason Upton has a song that says, "In Your presence, all fear is gone." (Obviously that's straight from scripture, as well, I just tend to remember songs better.) It's true. I over-think, over-analyze, and over-worry about situations. Finally I just spill it to God. I bear my soul to Him. I tell Him to just fix the problem. And somewhere in that, while I'm in His presence, the fear vanishes. Everything is OK. Then I wonder why I was so worried, remember why, think about why, think some more about why, and end up ushering in the anxiety again...Even though mere minutes ago, in the presence of the Almighty God, I knew without a doubt that He had things under control. How quick I am to abandon faith.

We also discussed process. You have to love the process. It's not about the end result...it's about the process of getting there. In God's great love for us, He doesn't just give us things. There is a process, and through that we grow and mature and learn to trust. And when we do get to that end, if we've loved the process enough to glean what we can from it, the end is just a by-product. But it's a sweet one because of what it took to get there.

So what now? First, we made a pact to love the process. Second, we both came away knowing that our faith has to be more than intellectual faith. We have to know with our very core. And the only way to know and not fear is to be continually in the presence of the One who drives out fear.