I’m tired. After months of pandemic and riots, my soul is weary.

In 1944, with the world still at war, Harold Arlen and Johnny Mercer wrote the song, Accentuate the Positive. It was exactly what a weary country needed to hear. The song became so popular it was nominated for an Oscar. Arlen and Mercer tapped into the importance of attitude in overcoming stressful situations and in uplifting a weary people.

Their upbeat tune with the words, “You gotta accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and latch on to the affirmative,” lifts my spirits. While I can do little to change what is happening, I am reminded that I control my attitude.

To accentuate something means to bring it to the fore, to make it prominent. Can you imagine the different response to our current situation if the media emphasized the positive instead of promoting the most dire predictions and the darkest side of events?

“Spread joy up to the maximum. Bring gloom down to the minimum, and have faith, or pandemonium’s liable to walk upon the scene!” is not just a perky ditty, it is wisdom we need today.

Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth;

Break forth in song, rejoice, and sing praises.

Psalm 98:4