Bad Attitude

At least, that is what my husband says.

He's right.

Ok now, guys, before you start cheering, and ladies, before you get up in arms, hear me out.

I have been noticing lately that I am concentrating an awful lot on the negative aspects of life. I'm tired. The house is always a mess. Josh doesn't help me as much as I need him to. Cainan screams at the top of his lungs. I don't have enough time for myself.

All of these things are true. Some are circumstances I have control over, or at least some control anyway. Some are not. Either way, grumbling about them is making me, and everyone around me miserable. Fighting with my husband to clean the house only leads to more fighting. Some of these situations are not fair, and I have a hard time not voicing my opinion in that fact. Does that mean that I should have to do all of it? Of course not. But a book I read, "Lies Women Believe and the Truth that Sets Them Free," by Nancy Leigh DeMoss, had a chapter that encouraged women to let go of some of those everyday battles and pray for God to change their husbands' hearts. As I have tried to practice this advice, I find life a lot less stressful.

Contemplating all this one Sunday while in church, God led me to turn in my Bible to Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life--in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing." (NIV)

Do everything without complaining and arguing. Yeah right, I thought. No disrespect to God. I knew it was what I was supposed to do. The hard part, I thought, was doing it. This is where I falter in my faith. I know if I let God work through me, I will be able to work through my daily activities without complaining. I am hindering the process.

It's easy, as I sit in church, to nod my head in agreement with the pastor as he preaches about living according to God's Word, building people up, honoring each other at home and living life with the heart of a servant. But then church service ends and I have to go home with my husband and son, and myself.

One of the things that I pray most often for myself is for God to give me the heart of a servant. To understand that as I work through the day, fix dinner, do laundry and wash dishes, I do so patiently and in a manner that worships God and honors my family. No sooner does the prayer leave my lips than something happens and the frustration rises up in me. It is a daily battle.

The truth is that while I don't have control over many things that happen, I do have control over my attitude, my anger, and my patience. I can only do so through the strength of the Lord. Ephesians 4:1-2 says, "As a prisoner for the Lord, then, I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love."

My husband and I were watching television yesterday and a non-profit commercial came on profiling orphans in Africa. We watched, with teary eyes, as a little boy took care of his even smaller brother. They lived in a cave. They slept on plastic. They were lucky if they ate.

We are so spoiled.

I praise God for those reminders in my life. I have a messy house to clean, but it's a house for my family and I to live in. I have a husband I argue with, but he's a decent man who is trying his hardest and has made some amazingly fast and tough transitions in his life to be by my side. I have a toddler in his "terrible two's", but he's healthy and amazing and he loves me unconditionally. When I remember that friends who have lost spouses and/or children, I am so thankful to God that my husband and child are safe and well. I have dishes to wash, but that means we had enough good food to eat on them.

When I think of it all this way, I am so ashamed of every complaining or arguing. God has blessed me so very abundantly with wonderful people and things in my life. To complain about these blessings in my life is nothing less than disrespectful to God. There's an old saying, "You don't know what you got 'till it's gone." Not anymore. It's time to start praising God for the blessings He has placed right in front of us.