My hubby has a wonderfully wacky sense of humor, as this photo shows!  A few years ago I had to start using CPAP at night because I was snoring “loud enough to wake the neigbors!” and I was basically spending my nights trying to breathe, instead of sleeping.  This is also known as sleep apnea, and it can lead to being forced to sleep in a separate bedroom from your hubby, and oh yeah, a shortened life.

For you who don’t know, CPAP actually stands for Continuous Positive Air Pressure,and the process basically ensures that you have a continual airflow all night, keeping you from snoring (the non-medical explanation).  And of course since Robert thought I looked hilarious with it on, he wanted to make sure my stuffed animals did not feel left out!  He left this for me to find one day after he left for work, and it very much made my day.

So I began to think about what would happen if we all had CPAP.  No, not the machine….but continual positive “air” around us. It is a scientifically proven fact that children thrive in a positive atmosphere, and the best teachers try to make that happen.  But in today’s world, it is very hard to hear as adults about the positive. As a matter of fact, we have even taken that very word and made it negative – as in, “I’m positive that won’t work out”!

Science has also proven that being positive brings great health benefits to the person practicing it.  And in my particular job, it is “commanded” that I be positive to my customers and to my co-workers…it is just simply expected.  That doesn’t mean I live in denial of those customers that may try my patience and all my goodwill..that’s just not going to happen sometimes after the third “oh wait I also need….” as I retype their order again.

However, overriding all this is that the Bible has a lot to say about being positive in a negative world.  Proverbs 15:13 says, “A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance”, and Proverbs 16:24 also says that pleasant words are sweet to the soul (paraphrase mine).  So, let’s practice some CPAP in our worlds – and when it’s tough to do, remember I Corinthians 5:57 “Thanks be to God who gives us the victory…!”