I got home just after 5 o'clock last Friday night. I had been mountain biking for 3 hours that afternoon and I was exhausted. I was also covered in mud and sweat. Sarah and I had planned to go to a concert that night around 7, so I was going to grab a shower, and then take a quick nap before leaving to go to the concert. Sarah's first words to me when I walked in the door were, "Hey babe, there's something coming up in our bathtub and it smells like sewage." Crap! (literally).
So Sarah graciously covered our couch with towels so that I could rest for half an hour. We live down the street from the Y, so after my nap I packed a fresh change of clothes and told Sarah I'd be back shortly. I walked out to the car and tossed my bag in the back seat. When I went to open the driver door, the handle broke off in my hand! My first thought was, "Give me a break!" But then the irony hit me and I just laughed. What else can you do at that point? I walked back inside and showed the handle to Sarah, along with my sad face. We laughed together.
I was thinking about it later that weekend, and I realized that it would be really easy to tell this story as if I had a bad day. But really, at the end of the day, I still got a nap, and a shower, and went to a free concert five minutes from my house. Yeah I'm gonna have to fix the car, but cars always need fixing. Even though Friday night had some unpleasant surprises (and I'll admit I was a little frustrated), I remembered in those moments that everything is gonna be okay. "IgbOK" my pastor says—"It's gonna be OK." Sometimes that sounds silly, or overly simple, but it's true. That simple phrase often changes my perspective. It reminds me to take a step back and look at the big picture. When I get tunnel vision and I can only see my present circumstances, it's easy for me to get angry and have a terrible attitude. But when I slow down for a moment, everything changes. Suddenly I have the perspective to see the present circumstances for what they really are: fleeting—they only last for a moment. And that helps me adjust my attitude, which is really the only thing I control.
Even though it's hard for me to do, choosing to have a good attitude when stuff goes wrong feels so great! I don't know how else to explain it. It's liberating. It's like a weight being lifted from me. I'm no longer allowing the present circumstances to dictate my joy, and it's worth it every time. Not only do I feel better, but it has great influence on the people around me too. It makes me someone who others want to be around. I want to be the kind of person that others are drawn to in those situations because it gives me a chance to say that it is my natural tendency to respond poorly. But something happened to change that. God changed my heart and now he is with me, helping me to respond with a good attitude when things go bad. That doesn't mean I always respond with a good attitude. I still find ways to make a mess of things. But by the grace of God, he is working in me so that more and more I do respond well. And when that happens, I get a weight lifted from me and he gets the credit.
Now the search begins for a new door handle...
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