I hate to admit it but my attitude can, at times, be based on the weather (cold and gloomy), the amount of traffic on my way into work, the way people treat me (superior over me), or many other things. When I base my attitude to random circumstances I become, to be honest, very unstable and moody. Then it becomes hard for me to show love and kindness to people around me, and become very “snappy” towards people. On the other hand when I choose my attitude despite what is going on around me, I tend to have a good day. But I know it is hard at times to CHOOSE the right attitude.
One morning as I got around I realized I pushed the clock to the very last second again. I left the house behind schedule thinking in my head that I can make up time as I drove to work. I asked God for all green lights and no traffic, even that time could stand still so I could clock in on time. Me! Me! Me!
Not following the law I tell myself, “its ok if I go 9 over the speed limit,” or, “I didn’t notice the light being red” (and really I did) as I drove through it. I was making my guarding angles work harder to protect me. I got aggravated with fellow drivers as they follow the law and stop at the light when it just turned yellow. Grumbling and complaining in my spirit before I even got to work.
Then, on my last stretch to work an old beat up truck was driving very slowly, I came very upset. This driver did not have his flashers on to indicate that he was having any kind of mechanical trouble; if he did I would have gotten around him before I was block in by other cars. So I drove behind this man, throwing my hands up the air and shaking my head, it was very obvious that I was “ticked”. This went on for about 50 yards and then he turned and as I drove on past him I laid on my horn as I approached the last traffic light.
Then I heard God ask this question… “What if that was my son Jesus driving that truck, would you have been so rude?” I instantly felt lousy, and ashamed. I started thinking what this man must have felt; he himself might have been trying to get work on time too. He probably felt embarrassed knowing that he was making the traffic back up behind him.
I asked God to forgive me for being rude and uncompassionate, then I said a quick prayer for this man, that his day would go better and that God would bless him.
With that little lesson tucked in back of my mind, I left for work yet another morning a little behind, not as bad as the day before but I wasn’t going to let the traffic upset me. Then all the sudden this red car pulled out in front of me, I instantly felt my blood pressure rise. How dare this person pull out in front of me, her car even seem to be running poorly. I had to stop that train of thought instantly! So I chose to think differently about the fact that she was driving in front of me, I started to look closely to her car and noticed that the rear right tire seemed to be low and very wobbly. So instead of grumbling about the situation, I started to pray for this person. The Lord God knew what was going on in her life; I just prayed that HE was watching over her and that she would have a peaceful day. Just doing that simple thing help me have a different outlook on my day. So instead of using my words for complaining, I want to choose to use my words for praying and by doing just doing that little thing I have a better attitude.