thermostat

So here it is...

...my two sons fight.  They bicker.  They compete.  They get really angry sometimes.  And I always feel like I'm the dam that holds back the torrent of water, standing solid against a flood of arguing.

Sometimes people in my house wake up grumpy.  Goodness knows, I don't care to speak for the first hour of my day!  But sometimes there are heart issues that rear their heads in those earlier hours of a morning.

And occasionally we are treated to an emotional rollercoaster by a member of the family.  Sometimes that is me.

But I've learned that I really don't have the luxury or even the right to entertain a bad attitude within myself.  I could be selfish and proclaim that my attitude affects no one but me but that is so far beyond false that I just don't buy it anymore.

As the wife and mom around here I hold a certain amount of influence.  A lot of influence.  I never asked for this responsibility but here I am holding the bag.

How I choose to behave (yes, it's choice) sets the tone for everyone around me.  I am the thermostat choosing the temperature of my home, my family.  If I wallow, they wallow.  If I snarl and growl, they snarl and growl.  If I am positive and kind, they follow in suit.  My attitude can be either a bolster to those around me or a stumblingblock.

It's easy, oh so easy, to be lazy in this area.  I don't want to be everyone else's cheerleader all the time!  I want to be able to yell "THIS SUCKS AND I DON'T WANT TO DO IT ANYMORE!!!"

But.....

I am the wife and the mom, and that man and those children trust in me.  And more importantly I'm a child of God and He has called me to do what is right.

So I suck it up when I don't want to, and I pray that my heart is changed when bad attitudes settle in so that there isn't a "don't want to" but instead an honest desire to do right by my family.

A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 17:22

 

Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.  In thy name shall they rejoice all the day: in thy righteousness shall they be exalted.

Psalm 89:15-16

 

Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies...her children arise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.

Proverbs 31: 10 and 28