Good morning children. Happy Sabbath. It’s me Travis, with Downey Seventh-day Adventist Church. Thanksgiving was last week. I hope you all had a wonderful vacation, wherever you were and whatever you did. And I want to get right into my story.
This story is about two twin brothers. And they always did the opposite. One of them loved the cold the other one loved the hot. One of them love putting ice in his water. The other one never put any ice, lukewarm. One of them love chili foods, and the other one loved sweets. So they did everything was always opposite with these two twin brothers. And one of them was an optimist. And the other one was a pessimists.
Now children do you know what an optimist and a pessimist is? When you say someone is an optimist, that means they’re very hopeful. And they see the best out of a situation they always see the best, no matter what’s happening, or what happens. They can always see the best in a bad situation, or whatever situation. A pessimist is the opposite. Someone who is a pessimists always thinks about the worst thing that’s going to happen. They are not hopeful. So even if things are good, chances are they have something bad to say. Because they don’t see anything good. They see the worst and everything. That’s a pessimists.
So one brother was an optimist, hopeful, and the other one was a pessimists, and he did not have any hope. So one day was their birthday. And their father wanted to put them to a test. So in the pessimists brother’s room, the father bought all the toys, and he filled his room up with all the toys you can think of. And then the optimist brother’s room, he filled his room up with hay, you know, hey, you find it on a farm. It’s that straw, we feed to the animals. He filled his room up with hay.
And so it was their birthday in the father goes into the room of the pessimists brother first. And he can hear crying. So the father walks in. And he asked his son, why are you crying, you have all the toys. And the pessimists brother says, he says, I have all these instructions I have to read. He says, I have to put all these batteries in all the toys. And he says, and with all these toys, I know I’m going to have to share and end these toys are going to be broken. And you can see how this how this one of the brothers did not have hope or anything good. Even though his room was filled with toys on his birthday, he found the worst things to complain about.
Now the father went into the other brother’s room, the optimist, the room with all the hay. And he heard laughing in there. And so the father walks in. And he sees his son there and he’s dancing. And he’s jumping in and out of the hay. And he’s throwing the hay up in the air. And he’s and he’s happy and he’s smiling. And the father asked his son, why are you so happy? And the son says, Dad, I know there’s got to be a pony in here somewhere. And I’m gonna keep looking.
Do you see the difference in attitude of the two brothers? You see, there’s a big lesson in life here children. And that, even though we could be in a bad situation, because we’re Christians, God has given us hope. And we can always find good things to talk about even in the worst case. Even if you have nothing. Just know we have Jesus. And that’s all the hope we need. That’s the greatest gift we have. And I love this time of the year. Because it’s a time, people are a lot nicer, a little more joyful. And we remember to be thankful for what we have. But we want to make sure we’re thankful every day, not just once a year, right? Because there’s many things to be thankful for.
I’ll tell you another quick story. My refrigerator broke this week. And so we had to take all the food out. And I never thank God for having a refrigerator. Because all week I had to drink warm water. There was no ice machine. My juice was warm. I never think God for my refrigerator before, but this week I did, because it was broken and I missed having a refrigerator.
Let me read this Bible verse for us. This is First Thessalonians chapter five. Verse 16, 17, and 18. And it says, Rejoice always pray without ceasing. In everything, give thanks for this as the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
I hope you children, I hope you are all optimists. You are all Christians that are optimists in this time of year. Let people know how thankful you are. Whoever takes care of you at your home, your mom, your dad, your grandma, your grandpa. Go up to them and tell them what you’re thankful for. Because there’s a lot to be thankful for. Especially Jesus Christ.
Let us pray. Dear Heavenly Father, Lord, thank You, Lord, for this beautiful Sabbath day. Lord, thank You that we can come to church Lord, Lord, thank You that we have a church. And Lord, thank You that You’ve given us Jesus Christ as our Savior. Lord, I pray you be with each child here. Lord, help them to be optimists, to be Christian optimists Lord, and to have the hope in their heart. Lord, be with them. Keep them warm during this time of year and watch over them and help them to grow and grow closer to you. In Jesus name, I pray, amen.
I’ll see you next time children. God bless you.