Do things just happen to you?
When you have a negative attitude, does it just happen to you?
Do you believe you are a victim of your attitude?
This was brought up in conversation with a few other wives when we were talking about how our attitude influences and affects our entire home.
I thought back to the times I have snapped at my husband or son out of a build up of frustration for certain circumstances that were happening.
But what was my take on those situations?
I seem to want to justify that I am irritated because of what is happening as if I have no control over my feelings. I act out of my irritation and I say things with an inflection in my voice that reveals how I am feeling, spurred by a belief it is just happening to me. Does that even make sense?
If my husband questions me or even asks me what is wrong, I explode with a list of circumstances that are contributing to the rise in my negative attitude. Yet, he stands before me with another question in his eyes,
So, why are you acting this way?
That is usually when I roll my eyes and walk away or go on another rant about just one more thing I remembered is also contributing.
My flesh wants to fight and I convince myself that I have no control over my responses, that it is just happening to me. As if I have to act this way to release and show my feelings, prove a point, get some help with the things I have been asking about for awhile, to receive validation, or whatever else I can get out of being so dramatic.
Can you relate?
Do you ever snap at your family, have a negative attitude, or believe things just happen to you so you are forced to just go with it?
I want to challenge us as wives to take responsibility for how we respond and react to circumstances. To be confident in knowing we can have a more positive approach to circumstances by taking a moment to get a “higher” perspective, better communicate our feelings by verbalizing them in an understandable way, and to believe we have the control to adjust our attitude instead of allowing it to rule us.
Stop being deceived that things, circumstances, or your attitude is just happening to you. You are not a victim of your attitude.
No matter what our circumstances are, we as wives have the gift of influence through our attitude and behavior, and we are given the choice to make that influence a negative one or a positive one. For the sake of our marriages and family, let us strive for the latter. Let us be willing to evaluate everything and filter it through God’s lens, adopting His joy as our strength to get through anything that comes our way.
Push aside the justification that things just happen to you and embrace the gift of choosing to take responsibility for your responses and reactions.
