“Crabby Patties”

Have you ever seen the show Sponge Bob Square Pants? Well if you have you either hate it or love it or just don’t care. Some people say I can’t stand the voice  or something I just can’t put my finger on. I’m a sometimes love it and some times highly dislike it.

Either way one of the big themes that run through the shows is a burger called a Crabby Patty” it’s served at the Crusty Crab Dinner. How would you like to eat there? To me the show is filed with charters that are either negative or pessimist that some how get rescued by this optimist Sponge Bob.

I was thinking the other day as Chrissy who loves these gummy candy crabby patties. They look like a burger with everything on it. Reminds me of a “In‘n Out” burger. Theses burgers are only made by Sponge Bob with Mr. Crab’s secret recipe. For some reason Sponge Bob is the only one who can do it right. Once some one has one of these burgers and I could be wrong on this but it seems to me that magically every thing is all right in life.

Any way she was eating a Crabby Patty and I was thinking about how nice it would be if these little gummy burgers had that effect on us. If we were crabby and wanted to change our outlook we just would eat a "Crabby Patty". Better yet if some one around you was being negative and crabby you could offer them a "Crabby Patty". The world would be changed by "Crabby Patties" life would be GOOD!

Well the truth is that they don’t change our mood or personality only we can we have the power to do this everyday. Now sometimes for some people there are chemical imbalances that can make life hard. Even with imbalances we still choose or attitude for the day. We can choose to eat a “Crabby Patty” and have a great day or choose to be negative.

The thing about being negative is it’s easy and it’s contagious like a bad cold virus. We shake hands and pass on our gift. I once read that it takes 10 positives to overcome one negative. “Yikes”, that’s a lot of “Crabby Patties”. It’s so over whelming that I might just think, why try with the world being as negative as it is. I’m like a salmon swimming up stream.

When I lived in Maryland we use to go crabbing and you would catch a crab on a string with an old stinky piece of chicken. Put your bait in the water and wait to feel a tug. Then, you would pull it up and throw the crab in a bucket. Yea one crab but the secret to not letting the crabs get out was catching another one as fast as you can. You see the one crab in the bucket would try to escape. It would hit the side try and tip it over the bucket and sometime it would be successful and get away(they can be fast!). Almost always though if you get two crabs together in the bucket they will pull each other down instead of working together. There is no real hope of getting out.

This is the way that negativity works. Where two or more negatives are gathered let the negativity flourish. We need to feed those people some “Crabby Patties” quick! This seems hopeless.

The truth is though is that some of us have an opportunity to release themselves and others from this. Those of us who have Jesus as our Savior can use a secret power that we have at our fingertips. Okay ready for this…Its called Joy.

Joy is a state of being it’s a way of life. Many times we think joy is an emotion but it’s not. The writer of the book of James knew this. James 1:2 “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters,^[a] whenever you face trials of many kinds”. This means when life gets crazy hard.  Then Paul the writer of Philippians say we are to Rejoice in always Philippians 4:4.  Not just part of the time or when were feeling like it. Rejoiced always!

Yes hard times will come but we have to choose our attitude or another way of putting it is a mentality. For Christ followers it should be a mindset of the Kingdom to come. Life is short and we need to help those around us see the light of Jesus. We are just like withering flowers or fleeting shadows (paraphrased) Job 14:1-2 .

Our mentality, be it positive or negative we need to keep it in check. My point is that if we have a negative out look, or if our attitude is negative. It’s harder to be a witness of some one walking in the Joy that Jesus brings to our lives. Yes, it is a choice. When your eyes open or feet hit the ground in the morning, it’s your choice to let the joy of Christ flow out of you. It is a battle and won’t change over night unless God changes it miraculously. (That can happen.)

So here is my challenge to you and myself to choose a positive attitude and have a kingdom mentality every day so we can be a positive witness for Jesus! Don’t eat “Crabby Patties” they don’t change anything. Perhaps the size of your clothes that another thing for another blog.