We don’t have to think long and hard about the importance of attitude. Consider those times you’ve been asked, “So, which side of the bed did you get out of this morning?” Such a question is often pronounced with a snarky tone, uncomfortably relevant to our first mumbles of the day.
On the other hand, one need spend only a few minutes reading or listening to news headlines to feel grumpy or sad before we’re barely awake. Attitude you say? What about the ongoing challenges of dealing with a pandemic, or the violence and destruction across the country from peaceful demonstrations turned ugly. Add to that a plethora of other difficult issues—spotty food shortages, high unemployment, struggling business—and that’s only to name a few.
Who could blame us if we’d rather pull the covers over our head and wait until all this passes?
Given that most of us know that’s not the answer and because we always have a choice—about our attitude and what we choose to do—what next?
Short answer. Pray for God’s grace to adopt a loving attitude, be quick to apologize and ask for forgiveness when necessary, then go do something to make a positive difference.
To adopt an attitude of love is to make a conscious decision to behave a certain way. Being loving involves our head and our heart. If it were easy, everyone would be doing it. It means being other-centered rather than self-absorbed.
Be quick to apologize and ask for forgiveness when necessary. It’s probably no coincidence that the longer we resist be loving [or receiving love] or delay apologizing or asking for forgiveness, the more miserable we become. Interestingly enough, this kind of misery isn’t always obvious, to others or ourselves. If anything, it’s a sticky-glue-attitude kind of misery that can leave an uncomfortable mark on everyone and everything we come in contact with.
Go do something to make a positive difference. However, you say, a loving attitude is a nice theological idea, yet is that really enough help solve all these nasty problems? Probably not, nonetheless, what if we gave it a try? What if we took our attitude in hand, first thing out of bed, and then chose to take at least one loving action before sunset?
There’s lots of talk these days about how love needs to prevail, that we carry forward within us a new sense of greater compassion for our human companions. Sadly, there’s also evidence many people want to resume the previous way of life, the faster the better, and “get back to normal.”
There has been and always will be a variety of perspectives on how best to live this one life each of us has been given. At the same time, maybe this will turn out to be the greatest wake-up call we’ve experienced in decades to get up each morning and make the choices that will change lives for the better, others and our own.
As for those sleepy-try-to-get-going mornings?
It’s not which side of the bed you get out of, only that you make the choice to live the day, as best as you can, with an attitude of love and compassion. And with trust in God to lead you, your actions will matter, each and every one.
Am I challenged to begin the day with a loving attitude? Why?
How do I feel about my attitude? In need of adjustment?
Can I pray for God’s grace to help establish a new, more loving normal?
