Attitude

The problem we have most of the time is not the problem itself but our attitude. On the Back 9 I am determined to have a good, positive and pleasing attitude. I was raised by a very positive mother. I have been a Christian since I was 9, thus I have had the help of the Holy Spirit when it comes to a positive attitude. I have enjoyed a good attitude and outlook more so than not…BUT….yes, there is a big but.

But everyone’s attitude needs an adjustment at times. Yes I am talking to ME, Myself and I! Just like wearing tennis shoes, at some point they get untied without my doing it. Our attitudes can get untied and we trip and fall. Sometimes the “fall” can be devastating. We may not have even noticed that our “shoes of attitude” have become untied. So let’s take a minute to sit down and check our shoelaces before we trip and fall.

*If you are displeased with your hair….how about the friend who has lost her hair to chemo?
*If you are upset with your child’s behavior…how about your friend who buried theirs?
*If you are upset about your car repairs, flat tire, car payment or, God forbid, you aren’t driving the cool car!….how about the millions of people who have NO car?
*If your child isn’t winning in their sport or not at the top of the heap….how about the kid who has no money to play sports? No dad or mother to teach them or take them? Or the kids who have no arms or legs or they experience physical setbacks and sports are never an option?
*If you are overweight and frustrated with your clothes not fitting….how about all the starving people in the world?
*If you feel that other people have better jobs…how about the millions that don’t have one?
*If you feel you are frustrated or upset with your spouse…what about the people who have never found love or experienced love?
*If you are unable to have a child…how about the orphans, no matter their age, who have no parents?
*If you can’t afford to go to the gym….how about all the skinny people in the world who have no choice but to walk to work…or do physical labor to live?
*If your friend appears to land a cooler, more prestigious job…how about the kids who never get to go to college…who have limited choices based on no fault of their own?
*If your air conditioning is broken….how about the people who don’t even know what air conditioning is?
*If your church isn’t meeting your expectations….what about the people who have to hide to worship….that travel miles just to get together with others to pray and worship…but have to be cautious and guard their lives?
*If your child is being excluded from the group…maybe it’s God’s hand of protection?

We have a choice in life. We get to choose our attitude. I love what the Jewish man and survivor of the Nazi concentration camp, Viktor Frankl, said. When he was stripped of clothes, food, water, dignity he said, “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing; the last of the human freedoms — to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

I recently read of the girl (journalist) who was taken captive by Muslim extremists and was eventually murdered by them but not before she wrote this to her family, “She was taken to a place where God was all she had to know that God was all she needed.”

My friends, where does our attitude come from? It comes from a heart of gratitude. Not from a heart of always wanting. It is a thirst that Satan masterminds and entices us all to latch onto…the mindset of “I want!!” “I don’t have!” “Why do they?” “Why can’t I?” “Why me?” “Why them?” Instead of “Thank you.” “What can I do?” “What can I live without?” “Who can I help?” “Who can I serve?” “What do I have that I can give away?”

I have news for anyone reading this… a ME attitude will give you a miserable life. YUK! Be honest. Who wants to be around someone where everything is all about them?

It is okay to say, “Why not me?” That can help create a good attitude. The “why not me” question can make you become grateful. Often people ask me if I am bitter because Thomas has a chronic illness. I learned to ask the question a long, long, long time ago–Why not my child? I hate it. I wish he didn’t have it. But neither I nor my family is immune from the bad.

In fact, the “squeeze in life” is the ultimate test of our attitude. Why not me means, “Ok, God, if I’m not dead, Your not done so why not me to accomplish the plans You prepared in advance?” (see Ephesians 2:10). Our attitudes get stuck and turn bad when our plans don’t line up with God’s. We have a life, let’s be grateful for it. I turn 53 in a couple of weeks….the alternative is no birthday. I am grateful to be 53 and not ashamed to say my age. I praise God that I’m not dead so God must not be done.

I encourage you today to tie those shoelaces and seek God to adjust your attitude toward His will and His plan for your life. Understanding that struggles are a part of life. Struggles refine us and can give us a heart of gratitude.

It is our choice.

Why not you?

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *