I recently had the opportunity to see a musical production of Disney's Mary Poppins. The original movie was a favorite in my family as I grew up, and for several days after the show I found myself singing "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" and "just a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down..."

But, does a spoonful of sugar really help the medicine go down? How did Mary Poppins respond to the challenge of transforming two young rascals into adorable, respectful children? This was more than a nice trip down memory lane—it has an important application to our lives now.

Mary Poppins' attitude strategy

Mary Poppins may have had a little magic on her side in the story, but her underlying methods weren't so unrealistic. She taught Jane and Michael to see the positive side of the situations in which they found themselves and to check their attitudes. Changing our attitudes toward our circumstances may not allow us to jump into pictures or dance on rooftops, but our attitudes can make or break our success in life.

How do we face the obstacles that inevitably present themselves in our lives—a difficult class, losing a job, an illness, maybe financial difficulties? Do they beat us down or do we choose the attitude we take toward them?

Should we lose hope and give up when we fall, or should we look for the positive and put forth extra effort to succeed in the face of difficulty? I'm not saying that difficult times won't get us down or that we should never acknowledge that we are sad or discouraged. However, we can control how we respond to that sadness and discouragement. And a positive attitude goes a long way toward improving the situation.

Is attitude everything?

Is the old adage "attitude is everything" really true? If we just think positively, will we succeed at every challenge we undertake? Put bluntly, no. Attitude is the beginning, but we then have to do the work necessary to accomplish the task before us.

To return to our children's story, Jane and Michael didn't simply drink the spoonful of sugar and then sit back and watch while their bedroom cleaned itself. They still had to work to get the job done.

Better than magic

You might argue that we don't have some magic potion to make our difficult times in life go down easier. You're right, we don't. We have something much better, much more powerful, on our side—the Creator of the universe and the promises we find in His Bible.

Paul, the writer of many of the letters in the New Testament, faced more than his fair share of difficult times. You can read his list of challenges in 2 Corinthians 11:24-28.

Despite all of the suffering that he endured, he wrote, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me" (Philippians 4:13). He wrote that while under house arrest possibly chained to a Roman soldier! He refused to give up or let a negative attitude take hold of him.

We have a loving Father who promises to see us through even the most difficult of times. He also tells us to come boldly to Him to ask for His help when we need it. He expects us to have a positive attitude and the confidence that He will take care of us.

For more insight, please read the article The Attitude of Success. Attitude may not be everything, but it can mean the difference between allowing life to defeat us and succeeding by the power of God. VT