We were all born with a sinful nature into a sinful world. It’s reflected most often, I think, in our attitudes and our inner responses to outside circumstances.
Paul wasn’t afraid to say that he “learned the secret of being content” regardless of his circumstances (Philippians 4). There seem to be a lot of ideas as to what his “secret” was, though he doesn’t, from what I can see, explicitly state it.
I think that I have learned – or at least am learning – the secret, too. The secret of maintaining a good attitude in attitude-threatening circumstances. Where have I learned this secret? Perhaps it’s from…
-Personal time in prayer?
-The way my parents raised me?
-The example my parents set?
-What I was taught in church?
-The example of my pastors and leaders?
I don’t know what it is, but I am grateful that I’ve learned to be pretty positive when it comes to “frustrating” circumstances. This served me well last night:
I was very excited when it started to rain. It would be the first hard, long rain in my part of town since I came. G was out doing errands and I was about fifteen minutes away from an online appointment. Since we moved into this house in January, it’s the first rain we’ve had in this (rented) house. I was vigilant about checking for drips. As soon as I noticed water coming through the back door, I changed clothes, grabbed a shovel, and went to the water-filled backyard (which is just dirt… well, mud by that time). The water in front of the door was 4-5 inches deep. I immediately started shoveling mud in front of the door until I had a foot-high pile that I hoped would keep the water out.
Soaked and laughing, I went back inside. That’s when I found… Image removed
That is my hallway and office. Filled with water. Muddy, leafy, stick-filled water. With no escape route (I had just blocked it off with mud) except for a mop and bucket (not a mop bucket, mind you… a wring-the-mop-out-with-your-hands bucket).
Deciding that I would be late for my meeting, I turned on some music and proceeded to rejoice my way through mopping the flooded room and hallway.
It’s so much better to rejoice in everything than complain in anything. I ended the evening quite happy, to be honest.