Battling a Bad Attitude

I have been battling a bad attitude lately. And especially today. It seems that once I have a bad attitude, or am in a bad mood, it is so hard for me to break out of it. It sours everything I do and all of my interactions, particularly with my husband and kids. I admit that this particular bad attitude began with a little Valentine's Day disappointment. Now, I should say at this point that my husband was wonderful to me yesterday and it was an overall good day. The problem was probably in my expectations, which were fairly high apparently and not quite met. Hence, the disappointment and bad attitude.

I awoke with the same bad attitude and dealt with it initially by trying to avoid everyone this morning. Easier said that done in a house with two preschoolers! I was not very kind to my kids and was short with my husband. Not my proudest moments, for sure.

As the morning went on and I tried to have a better attitude by will power alone (without success, I might add), I began to think about what we have been studying - love. And how our love towards others should not depend on what we get from them. I needed a change of focus from what I felt had been missed. Instead, I needed to focus on God. When I feel unloved here on earth, I can always count on the love of God. I began to think about verses I've studied in the course of doing this blog and thinking about God's expression of love through the sacrifice of His son. And it worked!

If you sense a bit of surprise, you would be right! I am ashamed to admit that I didn't actually think this would work to change my attitude. But it did. I still struggled through the rest of my day to keep my attitude in check, but it was exactly the break that I needed. I hope that I am not the only one getting the point here. We can break the cycle of disappointment, feeling unloved, and just plain being in a bad mood by changing our focus. And we can change our focus by dwelling on God and Scripture. By filling our minds (and our hearts) with the truths we know from the Bible. I purposefully turned my mind to God and His truth and my emotions eventually followed. I am so glad that I learned this lesson today and I hope that I will remember it the next time my bad attitude hits.

I also have to admit that in the past, I would have taken out my V-day disappointment by criticizing my husband and telling him exactly what I thought he did wrong. And I can say from experience that it doesn't help! It only makes everyone feel badly. God is changing my heart and I have his Word and, in part, this study to thank for it.

If you all have had "breakthroughs" or have learned something through our study so far, I would love to hear about it!