Philippians 4:8 (MSG) Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
Conclusion: Many years ago I was traveling playing music. We finished setting up the equipment. I read in the Baptist Student Union Book this story. Let me share it with you. This lady and her husband always had the most beautiful flowers in their yard. Their yard was so beautiful that people would drive by to enjoy the flowers. One winter the woman’s husband passed away. Then spring came around and she was sitting out on her porch swinging and remembering all the flowers and how the neighborhood friends so enjoyed their yard. She dug around in a drawer and found some seeds. She decided if she could get the roto-tiller started she would plant the seeds. The envelope said: bright red vine seeds. She poured gas in the tiller and pulled the rope. First tug the tiller started. She said this must be a sign God wants me to plant these seeds. There was a concrete block wall between her neighbor’s yard and her property. It took her two days to plow the path down her side of the wall. She worked the soil just like her husband would have. The next day she grabbed the envelope with the seeds and she planted the seeds with love. She would sit in her swing and dream about those bright red flowers and vines that would grow. The green vines started growing out of the ground. Several weeks later there were green vines growing up the concrete wall. There was a block and a space and another block. The green vines completely covered the wall. The green vine was so pretty. She thought I didn’t grow these seeds for green vines, I GREW THESE SEEDS FOR THE BRIGHT RED FLOWERS. She was so disappointed. There was not one bright red flower. One evening she thought about the red flowers and she went to the garage and grabbed her hoe. She walked to the road and the end of the drive way and she was going to cut the green vines down. Her neighbor pulled into his drive and jumped out of his car and ran to her. He asked her what are you doing? She explained she grew these plants for the red flowers and there was nothing but green vines. She explained it was her property and she could cut the vines down if she wanted to. The man grabbed her by the hand and pulled her to the end of the concrete wall. He said: LOOK, LOOK! There was 10 million bright red flowers on his side of the wall. She was amazed, green vines on her side of the wall. She saw her efforts produced thousands of bright red flowers. None of the flowers were visible on her side of the wall. The writer said: MY FRIENDS ON THIS SIDE OF ETERNITY YOU MAY NOT ALWAYS SEE THE EFFORTS YOU INVESTED ON THIS SIDE OF THE WALL, BUT SOMEDAY IN ETERNITY THE BRIGHT RED FLOWERS WILL BE RECORDED.