Set My Default to Gratitude, Please!

Default Setting: a setting that is automatically given to a software application, computer program or device; in people, it’s the way someone normally behaves and reacts

I sold an old iPhone 4 at our Estate Sale. Before I displayed it, I went through the process with iTunes to restore it to the
factory default settings so that all my photos, text messages and other personal data was removed. Now, it was all set with a clean slate for a new owners. I was pleased to sell it.

You see Mom in the photo here, sitting at a table and wrapping some of the breakables left over from our sale. Since we sold out of most our items, we were able to cancel yesterday’s "third day" sale, and instead, we boxed up all the leftovers to donate to Teen Challenge. It felt good to know they would be able to sell them in their thrift store and the proceeds go toward rehabilitating young people. Mom insisted on helping us. She was so grateful for what we did to help her get all her "stuff" sold. She woke up yesterday morning with a Plan A for her day. She remembered “Donna and Karen are packing up the leftovers. I can help them!” That has been the DEFAULT SETTING of this little lady for as long as I remember. She was always about helping to get the task at hand – DONE. I just had to take this photo of a this spirited 95-year old.

Over time, our settings change and we become programmed toward negativity, being critical or a complainer, a loose cannon (hot tempered), fear-ridden, and so many settings that need reprogramming. What I come to realize was that my default settings could be reset. I know that because my default settings included many of those attitudes I just described, but once I recognized those were not the settings that God chose for me, and that I could be reprogrammed, I purposed to make changes.

Here’s how to determine if we need to RESET to our default setting -- the one that God gave us. If a pressured situation occurs, what is your default setting? Would you get uptight? Panic? Angry? Nervous? Hyper? Yell? Act forceful? Or, do you remain calm in the storm? Are you in personal control? Do you rationally assess the situation? Do you stop and take everything into consideration before reacting?

What if gratitude in the midst of every situation, were our default setting? Gratitude helps us to reset our mind to think positive and not negative. Gratitude helps us reset our heart to be fixed on what matters most. Gratitude helps to reset our mouth to speak life and not death, and gratitude helps us to reset our eyes to see the best rather than the worst.

Good news: As operators of our own system, we can override our natural default setting. And, we can help others do the same as we set the example for living in the love setting, the joy setting, the peace setting, the patience setting, the kindness setting, the goodness setting, the faithfulness setting, the gentleness setting and the self-control setting. Hmm! Those settings sound very much like the Fruit of the Spirit, and those are settings that we can purposely reset to the Manufacturer’s (God, the Creator’s) settings. Consciously, developing the habit to RESET when we catch ourselves outside of the Gratitude and Fruit of the Spirit settings….will eventually cause our DEFAULT Settings to be God’s settings consistently. That's what I call growing fruitful from the inside out! Ready to hit that RESET button? I am.

2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, they are a new creation: old things are passed away; behold, all things are made new."