Updated Edition 6/12/2015
Have you ever had a day like this, you wake up feeling great, energetic, ready to conquer the world, but after an hour of getting up, something happens that makes your wonderful mood switch like a light bulb from light to dark, from good mood to bad mood? It is like your attitude just fell off a cliff.
I know I have had too many days like that and those days are not enjoyable for me nor anyone else that has to encounter me. A bad attitude is a joy thief. It not only steals my joy, but it also creates this vacuum in my house and sucks the joy out of my kids and my husband. You know the cliché saying that “if mom isn’t happy no one is happy.” Well, it is sad that there is truth to that, but anyone can be substituted in that sentence. If someone close to you that lives with you is not happy, then those around them are most likely going to struggle with their joy levels.
Our attitudes are very powerful in affecting those around us. Anger, frustration, anxieties, anything that causes us to be in a bad attitude, is not from God. When we give into these things and let them destroy our joy, we are giving “the devil a foothold,” (Ephesians 4:27). I honestly believe this is why Paul teaches us what to talk about in Ephesians 4:29. What we are to think about in Philippians 4:8-9, and how to correctly interact with each other in Ephesians 4:32. He understood that when we act out our bad attitudes we are letting the wrong thing win. He tells us that when we allow ourselves to give into “bitterness, wrath, anger, outcry,…slander….malice,” we grieve the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 4:30-31).
Therefore, when I allow my attitude to ruin my day, I’m grieving God’s Spirit because I’m allowing my attitude to quench the Holy Spirit. Bad attitudes have no place in the Holy Spirit, but joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control do (Galatians 5:22). We are to live by the Spirit (Galatians 5:25) and walk in love (Ephesians 5:2), not walking and dwelling on our bad attitudes.
So, what does one do, when their mood is so low they can’t see the light anymore? Well, for me one thing is to be kind to someone, pray for others rather than myself, count my blessings because a grateful heart won’t have room for bitterness or envy, and quit being selfish. Seriously, I have to admit, my bad attitudes stem from selfishness. It may not be obvious at first, and I may have good “justifications” for my mood. But, the reality is the fact that I’m frustrated that things haven’t gone the way I wanted them to go. Like the old saying “the world doesn’t revolve around me,” so I need to learn to get over it. The truth is, life is short giving power to a bad attitude is wasting what little time you and I have to enjoy life. So, I pray that the Holy Spirit gives us all the power to destroy the bad attitudes and let joy fill our hearts.