Why Your Attitude is Everything

      Have you ever noticed that some people just take things in stride better than others?  Something goes wrong and there are a myriad of ways to handle the situation – how will you handle it?

    Friday, I met for lunch with a pastor friend at McAlister’s Deli.  I took along the promotional tumbler that we had purchased there several years ago so we can get less expensive tea whenever we visit. I always drink water, so I had the tumbler filled with tea for Kim to take home with me.  I paid the bill without paying attention as I was talking to my friend. When I got home, I gave Kim the receipt and she realized they had charged me $9.99 for a new tumbler instead of $.99 for a tea. I stopped by a few days later and asked for a refund.  The employees were great to work with, but they weren’t sure how to credit me so it took about twenty minutes for them to come up with a resolution. They made a copy of the receipt and told me the next time I came in I could just ask for the credit.  

     As I left the store, I thought of how I could not have been more polite, understanding and patient.  My goal was for them to look at each other after I left and say, “That was a really nice guy.” Later that day, I got a call from them and they said they wanted to give me two VIP coupons instead, valued at $25.  I thanked them for being so kind.  

     I would like to say that I always handle every situation with grace, but that isn’t the case.  Like I say, I have looked in the mirror and perfection isn’t in my immediate future. I generally handle things well though… and I am getting better at it.  Being this person is something I have worked on over the years. Better yet, it is a way that God has been working with me over the years.

    As Christ-followers, we should always seek to emulate Jesus.  As we consciously seek this direction daily, we can’t help but get better and better at showing the patience and kindness that Jesus wants us to.  After all, we are His representatives wherever we go. Let’s go to the scripture and see how it challenges us to bring God into our circumstances.

     In college, I took a class that taught me how to break down writing to get the most from it.  Let’s explore the passage and glean all we can from it. I will put my comments in italics.  

Philippians 2:1-5

(Here’s the consideration… look at all the “if’s.”  There are five of them. Consider each one.)

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, 

if His love has made any difference in your life, 

if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, 

if you have a heart, 

if you care— 

(Wow!  So if Jesus has come into a life, then that life is supposed to change.  Going to church isn’t just a social club, but we are to emulate Christ himself!)

(OK, If Jesus has made a difference in your life, then what?  God asks us to do him a favor! Jesus paid the debt for our sins, so we should go into this saying, “Yes,” not asking what it is, then deciding if we will do it.)

then do me a favor: 

Agree with each other, 

love each other, 

be deep-spirited friends. 

Don’t push your way to the front; 

don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. 

Put yourself aside, and 

help others get ahead. 

(There are seven requests here.  Each one is challenging us to show the love of Christ.  Each one challenges us at the core of our selfishness. The question to ask ourselves is, “What will we do with this information?)

(This request has a summary.  It challenges our pride.)

Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. 

Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself.

(When I was at the restaurant getting a refund, the one thing I consciously did was to lay down my pride.  I didn’t care about my own rights. I just wanted to emulate Christ)

     Attitude is everything.  You don’t know what is going to happen in your life today or tomorrow, but you can go into any situation knowing that you will handle things with grace, understanding, and patience.  Your attitude actually sets the pace for your mental and physical health. In my post about Telling Yourself the Truth, I explain that the way we think can change the chemical composition of the body.  I could have come out of the restaurant furious and in a bad mood with my pulse surging and snapping at Kim. Instead, I came out calmly and told Kim how I couldn’t have been more kind and understanding.  And because we talk about marriage here, which of the two would you rather be married to? The furious guy or the kind and understanding guy? All of us that are married have one thing in common: our spouse sees the real us.  What kind of person do they live with? Here’s the good news. You get to decide.

Psalm 34:1 summarises what our attitude should be.  It tells us:

I bless God every chance I get; 

my lungs expand with his praise.

I live and breathe God; 

if things aren’t going well, hear this and be happy: (The Message)

Here’s a link to the “Telling Yourself the Truth” blog