On this day in 1964, the movie Mary Poppins began showing in American theaters.

You’ve probably seen the movie Mary Poppins. If not, you should—it’s great fun. The story revolves around a new nanny who arrives to take care of a banker’s children. She helps the children magically explore the world around them, and at the same time she brings the family closer to each other.

In one memorable scene, Mary gets the children to do an unpleasant task by singing, “A Spoonful of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down.” Her point is that difficult jobs can be made easier when we approach them with a good attitude—the “spoonful of sugar.”

It’s true, right? Think about the difference an attitude makes. If you’re in a bad mood, everything is a pain. No matter what we’re asked to do we gripe, complain, whine, and mope. Then the job seems to be twice as difficult and take twice as long as it should.

In contrast, when we’re “up,” feeling good about life, Mom, Dad, coach, teacher, or even a sibling can ask us to do something, and we’ll get right on it—no problem! We have a good feeling of accomplishment when we’re finished.

And here’s the great part—we can choose our attitudes. Even in the worst circumstances, we can choose to look on the bright side, to have a positive spirit. That’s like adding our “spoonful of sugar” to the bad-tasting “medicine” in life.

So, are you positive? Make that choice.

Your attitude should be the same that Christ Jesus had (Philippians 2:5).

To Do

For the next 24 hours, choose a positive attitude, no matter what happens or what you’re asked to do.

Also on this day . . .

1892—Pop (Billy) Shriver of the Chicago Cubs caught a ball that was dropped from the top of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005).