Can you have a good attitude in the midst of your chaos?
Do you ever feel like you aren’t measuring up? Do you ever feel like you have let the people in your life down? Maybe you don’t feel like you are the mom that you wanted to be or maybe you have missed the deadline at work 3 quarters in a row. You sit here reading this knowing you have disappointed someone or didn’t meet a boss’ expectation.
We can all relate to this to some degree.
If you are like me – it’s all too easy to tie our attitude into our production. If things are going good - deadlines are being met, no one seems to presently hate me, and my presentations or sermons are getting good feedback- I’m dancing around the house to the “Greatest Showman” sound track (Yes, I know that was so 2018 – but it’s crazy good), but if things aren’t meeting my own expectations I walk in the house and act like Michael Scott when he burned his foot on the George Foreman Grill… Grumpy, lazy, and just wanting sympathy.
My guess is your barometer for production is a little different than mine. Maybe you are tapping your feet to your favorite music when the dishes are done and the laundry is actually folded and put away. Maybe it’s when the meeting you led went well or your students didn’t try to kill each other while you stepped out of the classroom.
And maybe you are a grump when your coworkers don’t pull their weight, the house is a mess or your presentation is 2 days away and you aren’t even close to ready.
How do we change this? Is it even possible to change? Is it possible to have a frustrating and unproductive day at work and not let it ruin your night when you are with those that you love the most?
Is it possible to laugh when the dishes are stacked up and the mail hasn’t been opened in 3 days? Or are we all destined to be consumed in anxiety, frustration and general grumpiness when life is a little chaotic?
I believe it is possible – but it’s going to take a restructuring of how we determine our value.
It’s going to take us pushing aside the drive to determine our value based on our production and shift into determining our value based on His love.
If you have been in church at least once in your life – you know that God loves you – but do we ever take time to sit quietly in that reality? Do we ever ponder just how impactful that truly is?
If it seems like a Truth that is inconsequential to our lives I would suggest we haven’t really began to understand this love.
Here’s what John tells us in 1 John 4:7-12…
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
The love of God is a transforming reality that readjusts our perspectives on how we see ourselves.
It’s not based on how good we are at our jobs, how clean our house is, or how many times we forgot to turn in our assignment. It’s based on the very nature of God. He loves us – because He is love.
And this realization that we are loved by God begins to show itself in how we show love to others.
This week will have difficulties – you might crash and burn in that presentation, you might feel neglected while dealing with a medical issue at home, and the laundry might be out of control – but your attitude doesn’t have to be tied to your production. Instead, let your attitude flow from the realization that you are loved no matter what!
Join me this week in focusing on that truth and letting the love of God be present in how we love others!