“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

~Charles R. Swindoll

I read these words last night and they resonated with me. I have always tried to have a happy attitude. Clearly I am human and have not always accomplished this. I have never really thought about how my life is based more on my attitude than anything else. I agree with ole chuck swindoll when he said that it can make or break a company, a church and a home. I have seen it break all three. I would love to say that I have never been part of the attitude problem but that is not true. I am just as guilty as everyone else.

I am a pleaser. I love to make people happy. I don't know why. Maybe it is some incessant need for approval. M.C.S. or Middle Child Syndrome. I don't think this is a bad thing. But the problem is, when people don't react the way I want them to, then the attitude comes. I don't know why I cant just be content in knowing I have done my part to make someone happy. But again my attitude is caused by other's attitude. Now I am not going to lay blame. But i am in a way. I, myself, have had bad attitudes which in turn caused others to have a bad attitude. So it really is a vicious cycle. I do have to say that I have had bad attitudes due my own failures or other things that I have done to myself.  I guess I need to really be on guard at all times. When I allow people or circumstances to steal my joy, then I am saying to myself, that my joy is not important enough. Which brings me back to wanting to please others before myself. Don't get me wrong, that is a great thing. We are supposed to serve, to bring the love of Christ to the world. But my joy is just as important as the next persons and when someones bad attitude makes my own go south then I just let them take something from me. A moment in time that I will never be able to get back.

Our lives are full of moments. We are in control of how we react to those moments. They might not all be happy moments. But we are ultimately in control of how we see those moments. I do try to be optimistic in every situation life throws at me. I know people who can't even seem to find the positive in a GOOD situation! I cant imagine existing that way. That is what they are doing, existing. NOT living! Now I know trying to find good in ALL moments of your life might seem impossible. It all goes back to attitude. If you have a great attitude then you will easily see some good in everything.

When my uncle died, I was sad. I still cant believe that he is no longer with us. Cancer is an ugly thing. To find the good out of that situation is very difficult. He was only 55. He had a wife and 17 year old daughter. He had nieces and nephews that LOVED him. But, I knew if I was going to get through this, if I was going to help my aunt and cousin  and my own small kids who adored him, I was going to have to have a great attitude. I knew, without a doubt that Edward was heaven bound. I knew that as we mourned the fact that he was no longer here, we must also  rejoice in the fact that he was with Jesus. We must celebrate his life and the memories that we had with him. It is still hard to think about not being able to see him for a long time. But I also know that I WILL see him because of my own relationship with Christ.

So you see, our attitude can ease our pain, or make it greater. Our attitude can hurt someone or help them. I think about how Jesus' attitude the day he was being crucified was one that while he KNEW what was happening he KNEW there was purpose behind it. I am SO glad that he didn't have an attitude like I do many times and say," Forget it, no one appreciates what I am doing and they never will ." We would really be in trouble then.

So starting today, I am going to try to have a GREAT attitude! I will be looking at the POSITIVE and not try to knock someone down because I feel bad about myself or my situation. Of course I will not accomplish this every second of every day. But if I keep it on the fore front of all my thoughts, I believe that I can, MOST of the time, have a great attitude. After all, my children are watching everything I do and if I can teach them one thing, it is to always see the good in people.....in every moment of their lives.