Attitude -- a choice

The culmination of the last few weeks was crowding out my joy.

Sick kids -- repeatedly.  Not feeling well myself.  A broken vacuum (right before guests were coming over).  Preparation for guests to come in the midst of a sick household.  A squeaky dryer belt causing the dryer to be unusable.  A propane leak.  Paperwork for homeschool registration being held up.  Headaches from accumulating all the paperwork required for getting our licenses (although Techno-genius did most of that).  Beginning to think and plan for teaching/helping at VBS.  Stressing over the work we have yet to complete to finish organizing our garage and finishing Doug's office/shed.  Waiting for news regarding the sale of our house in Cincinnati.

All of a sudden everything hit me at once.  Like a ton of bricks.

I was grouchy.  Snappy with the kids.  Irritated with Techno-genius.

God started to prick my heart about my attitude.

I KNEW I needed to un-grumpify.  Change my thought process and hence my actions.

I began to pray for MY changed heart.  MY attitude to be altered.

Then I read a blog post talking about life being choices.

Amazing how God answers our prayers.

He brought to my attention the error in my thoughts and actions.  He called me close to Himself in prayer.  THEN he began to answer my prayers.

I had a choice.

I could meander around the house flumping; grumpy, grouchy, snapping at everyone; thumping things around to show my displeasure.

OR.....

I could CHOOSE to smile.  To be gentle.  To take a nap if that would help my overall outlook.  To take a breath BEFORE I opened my mouth to snap at the next unsuspecting victim.

Not saying it's easy, but ......  IT. IS. A. CHOICE!  MY CHOICE!!!!

Sometimes grumpiness comes upon us.  We ARE human.  But, what we do with it -- how we react to it -- that defines our character.

I want to have a more meek and quiet spirit.  That means I have to choose to change my attitude; my actions; the look on my face.

That's where I started - instead of a frown or grimace - I chose to smile despite my brewing headache; my irritation at the dirt all over the floor and no vacuum to clean it up; my weariness from kiddos having a stomach bug every 3-5 days for the last 3 weeks; the messy girls' room that I just helped them clean.

As I smiled, I also agreed to play barbies with the girls.  Then I too took a nap.

It's tremendous what a choice can do.  It can uplift and encourage or it can tear down and belittle.

I'm determined to make the former choice more often than not.  Praying for God's strength to help me along the way; during those times I'm tempted to allow my 'grumpies' to take hold and soar.