Philippians 2:1-5
"If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
YOUR ATTITUDE SHOULD BE THE SAME AS THAT OF CHRIST JESUS."
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Attitude. What a Word.
This is What to Wear Wednesday and ever since this past Saturday, God will NOT leave me alone about that word. I know, that I know, that I know that I am suppose to write about it today for this column.
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What to Wear? A Good Attitude.
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Can I tell you that that may be the most difficult wardrobe piece I have to wear on some days? Now don't get me wrong. If you ask most of the people who know me well, they will probably tell you they don't think I have a problem with that. In fact, they may think I always have a pretty good attitude, and honestly, I usually do. But girls, there are some days when, oh my goodness, I have to seriously search HIGH and LOW to find a good one when it comes to a few things in my life.
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Like, why oh why does my husband ALWAYS wait till the last minute to leave the house when he knows we have to be somewhere at a certain time so we arrive late?
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Or, why am I the only one who knows when the dishwasher is empty? Do they not LOOK inside?
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Or, why does my son never put a new toilet paper roll on the holder? I mean, seriously, I'm sure he has to actually GET UP OFF THE SEAT to get the roll where HE put it...on the counter. Wouldn't it just be easier to put it on the holder instead of the counter? It's closer.
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I'm not sure this happens in your family, but why does it seem that the stupid devil invades our CAR every sunday morning on the way to church? How does he get in there? We seriously were just FINE in the house, but the minute we get in the car, turmoil breaks out...it's crazy.
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In the scriputure above, Paul tells us that if we have any encouragement from being united with Christ then we should have the same attitude as Him.
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After God put this on my heart this weekend, I was waiting for my husband on Sunday afternoon, to leave for a lunch with a group of friends. We were supposed to be there at
1:30 pm and at 1:20 I was still standing in the kitchen waiting for him to meet me downstairs to get in the car. You might think 1:20pm wasn't so bad. The problem was, we were supposed to BE there at 1:30, it was a half hour drive and we still had to go to Sams Club to pick up the french bread for the luncheon (because Dave says Sams has the best french bread and we had to get it there.)
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So what's a girl to do? I kept thinking about this attitude thing...I knew God wanted me to write about it so I had a talk with myself. I said, "Self, God just wants to see if you mean what you write, so, are you going to have a good attitude, even if it means being late? Because only one of two things is gonna happen.
1) You can get mad, have a fight, yell and tell him he's rude and then you'll sound rude, and then we won't talk the whole way there and we will arrive at 2pm.
OR
2) You can smile, say, "oh honey, I'm so glad you are so handsome and will be going to this lunch with me, isn't it such a beautiful Sunday?" And still arrive at 2pm.
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Okay, maybe I didn't go the whole "you are so handsome, beautiful Sunday route" BUT I did keep my mouth shut, I did make nice conversation (and not forced conversation, but actually acted like we were on time!) AND we still arrived at 2pm.
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You see, what would a bad attitude have done? It would have only made ME upset, it would have gotten on HIS nerves and we still would have arrived at 2pm.
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So today, (and prayerfully everyday) I will choose to have a good attitude. An attitude like Christ. Because I really doubt God cares if we arrive on time, as long as we have fun doing it!
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So girls, what will you choose to wear today? I'd love for you to tell me!
I pray you put on your GOOD ATTITUDE as your number one accessory and walk out that door lookin' mighty fine!
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Beautiful Blessings,
Shari
6 comments:
LOVE IT! Thank you for this!
...and a positive, joyful attitude is very VERY hard on some days!!
Very good! Thanks for the reminder to "put on" a good attitude. You can have all the pretty clothes money can buy, great accessories and every hair in place, but if you have a bad attiutude it really ruins it all, doesn't it?!
I try to remember "to choose my battles" with my husband, but I'm afraid my attitude gets in the way all too often...esp on Sunday mornings. What's up with that anyway?!?!
Have a great weekend!
Shari,
It's like you live in my house, girlfriend. Your thoughts ARE my thoughts...dishwasher, toilet paper roll, timeliness. Monty jumps in the shower 10 minutes before we are to walk out the door! Oh, my goodness!!!
I so appreciated your words today. These past few weeks I have been teaching a Bible study on Proverbs, and we have been focusing on your words. The Lord used your post today to speak directly to my heart...to my words...to my attitude. Thank you for the GREAT wisdom, Shari.
Love you and thankful for you!
Wendy
I came across your blog, and I am busy reading it tonight. Just wanted to say that this was a must-read for me, and I plan to put my good attitude to use! Thanks for these positive words!!
Shari: Love from Hearts at Home! I just have to tell you that the entire staff had such a blast at the workshop you put on for us before conference in Grand Rapids! So much in fact, that we continue talking about it, discussing our colors, exchanging clothes with each other, and running into one another at the mall finding the right color palette! We have re-energized the economy in our city with our shopping!
Thanks so much for all the pointers and all the fun! Looking great really can be easy when you have all the tools from Shari!
Huh, I never thought of it that way! What is the point in nit-picking when it truly will not change the outcome and will only get both of us upset. Thanks for your honesty and sharing this! I know the Holy Spirit will remind me next time I am tempted to wear a bad attitude. God bless!
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