Bright Spot: It's too easy to turn to the negatives

I’m not supposed to have a title like the above in a column called “Bright Spot.”

But …

I have a hobby. That’s what the IRS calls it, but I still must pay taxes on the profits. I repair and sell cast-off furniture people leave on curbs and by dumpsters way more often than you’d think. Sadly, it goes to landfills. We are “kicking the can down the road,” and future generations will have to deal with our polluting.

I donate 100% of the proceeds to a ministry in Kenya that feeds 25,000 children there for 10 cents a meal. Many support this cause. I invite you to join me. These dear children might only get one meal a day.

Bright Spot: Is your life awful, or 'awe-full'?

I also give some furniture items to international students who come to America with nothing. This stellar ministry worthy of your contributions is International Friendships Inc. Some of my items go to the Habitat for Humanity Restore to bless the charity.

Not trying to toot my own horn. But if I toot it, then I know it’s been tooted, as my pappy-in-law used to say.

I currently have 167 five-star ratings from satisfied customers. I also have a couple of four-star, two two-star and one one-star rating. The latter I’m almost positive was a mistake, as that guy chased me down to give me an extra $20. Sometimes people misunderstand the rating system. Or at least that’s what I tell myself.

Which ratings do you suppose I think most about? Three guesses and the first two don’t count.

I’ve heard it takes 10 positive comments to override one negative one. We go into the dumpster, not to rescue or repair for our cause, but figuratively and emotionally. We get depressed over the “downers” when the vast majority love us, or at least like us (or stay quiet).

That’s dangerous. Especially when we consider the retail industry shares this stat, that for every one person who posts a positive comment about your business, ten will post negative ones. Politicians aren’t the only ones who love attack ads and posts. Haters hover everywhere.

We can’t always do much to reverse this tendency of human nature. We can put out the best product possible. But we can choose to build other people up instead of tear them down. We are told to speak the truth, but always do it in love. Love covers a multitude of sins (faults we see in others, Ephesians 5:15, 29; I Peter 4:8). The apostle Paul admonished us to fill our conversations with grace, seasoned with a little salt (Colossians 4:6). How many of our words reverse that recipe?

Jesus was full of grace and truth (John 1:14, 17). Jesus was a life-giver in words and actions, adding value, loving and lifting people: “I came that you may have life; life abundantly.” (John 10:10)

So, not only will I focus more on the great value I'm giving my furniture customers, meeting a real need, AND keeping stuff out of our landfills, I’ll try harder to ignore the naysayers. I will instead focus on how what I’m doing may make a difference in whether some precious little people in Kenya live to see another day. Literal life-giving.

Rick Sams is pastor emeritus of Alliance Friends Church.

This article originally appeared on The Alliance Review: Bright Spot: It's too easy to turn to the negatives