And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8, N.L.T.)
A Baptist preacher of another day wrote this:
Don’t ever send a buzzard out to report on the landscape. He’ll fly over all kinds of beautiful flowers, green meadows, blue lakes and gorgeous mountain ranges; and when he comes back and you ask, “Buzzard, what did you see?” he will answer, “I saw a dead cow covered with maggots and big purple flies.” That buzzard may have flown over ten thousand beautiful flowers and trees and placid lakes to see maggots and flies on cows. Being a buzzard caused him to see that.
But send a honeybee out to report on the landscape, and when he returns ask him, “Honeybee, what did you see?” and you will hear a different story: “I saw ten million little flowers filled with nectar, and I got all I could take and added it to my honeycomb. My! I must have made a pint of honey today!” It flew over the dead cow and didn’t see it. It was looking for something else – flowers.
If you look for the worst, you will probably find it. If you look for the best, you will find that down the road too. SO GO THROUGH LIFE LOOKING FOR THE BEST.
Our text verse tells us to fix our thoughts on things that are true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and worthy of praise. That’s another way of saying, “Go through life looking for the best rather than the worst.” Unfortunately, the worst is usually easier to spot. That is not to say, though, that the best isn’t out there too if we are willing to search for it.
Keep this in mind, Christian, whenever life funnels you through a difficult season. Right there in the midst of your struggling, pain, disappointment, and frustration, look for the good in all the bad. Ask the Lord to help you reprogram your mind so that you can fixate on everything that is right rather than on everything that is wrong. And wherever you find something that is (to use Paul’s description from the conclusion of our text) “worthy of praise,” take the time to actually praise the One who has blessed you with that particular thing.
The Disciple's Road 
Both the buzzard and the bee were doing their assigned jobs….looking for what they were supposed to….somebody has to be the buzzards in the Christian realm, looking for little varmints that get into the wheat, so dead cows, magots and flies go with the territory of….as the pastor said….being a buzzard causes a buzzard to see those things….not everyone can be a bee, making honey and seeing only flowers….now, maybe we can take turns being the bee and the buzzard….and, maybe we can appreciate the buzzards, because they have a very important job to do too.
I’m not trying to be contrary or combative. I have sat decades at Jesus Christ’s feet asking Him to help me not to be so pessimistic and not complain and grumble as He has asked us or even commanded us, if you want to see things in that perspective, so much. And that is what He has shown me. That EVERYTHING has its purpose. Do we need to grumble and have a negative attitude and talk angerly and such, no. Do we need to laugh and be joyful and not cry when out fathers/Father chastises/rebukes/reprimands us? No. I endeavor to take it all in stride. Not complacently, not nonchalantly, but with my chin up, having learned my lesson, not with the bad pride, but with knowing I CAN do better and being confident to do better, even if I fail. Having a try, try, again attitude, even when my failure is completely my fault.
I am now looking for the best and realizing the best sometimes comes in packages I don’t like or expect.
Here’s a rubber meets the road application : When I am frustrated, disappointed, angry, want to use a few choice words, etc., I am working on stopping and saying, “There has to be a good purpose that this is happening, that person said that, that person acted like that, this or that didn’t happen, etc., again, I’m working on that – lol…so its not 100% of the time yet and it still takes me a certain amount of time to get my mind doing that…..I am endeavoring to live that EVERYTHING works out for my good and the rest of that passage…& the what the enemy meant for evil, God meant for good. Living out that sometimes the glass being half empty is a good thing, and as it gets emptier, the better. (Talk to anyone that has had to drink Go-Lightly before a colonoscopy – lol)
I am endeavoring to take joy in my trials, not that it’s an outside manifestation of joy, but an inward joy…and peace….the Peace that passes understanding….
Some days it’s VERY difficult…….I am adding to my quantity of days that it is easy, or easier…..I turn 55 this year, just maybe in twenty years, when I’m 75…..I will be able to say it easy most of the time, then again maybe I won’t. And that is OK. As long as its more of the time than now, things are moving forward.
OK, I’ll end this book. Yeshua’s Blessings on you and your family as we all work out our own Salvation, not only with fear and trembling, but with revelations from Holy Spirit and practicing what He is teaching us.
I turn 58 in October, and I’ll admit that in too many instances I’ve still got more buzzard in me than bee.