Thursday, November 20, 2014

Road Rage Gone Wrong!


Have you ever met a negative person? I'm sure you have....we all have. You know what I'm talking about....the person that never has a good day, and only has negative things to say about absolutely everything. If we're going to be honest with ourselves, sometimes we have been that person! OUCH!!
 
Just the other day I had one of "those" days. You know what I'm talking about. It was a day that didn't go right from the moment I rolled out of bed. It began with a migraine that kept me from sleeping much that night. If that were it I would have been happy, but my computer wasn't working right, my dryer quit, my stomach was upset and horror of all horrors.....I realized I had a hole in my pants. As if that weren't enough, it seemed that as the day progressed, I met every person in the entire city that was in a bad mood! I wanted to stop the day so I could get off!!  Have you ever had anything like this happen to you?
Positive thinking is always greater than a negative mindset.

 It's days exactly like these that  put our patience to the test. It's days like this that we must remember that it is so important to remember the blessings in our lives.
One morning, when I was a young mom I had not quite learned this lesson. My first born was only three at the time and on this particular day I was on my way to her gymnastics class. It was an icy, cold and windy day and we had a 30 minute drive from our home in a little farm town in Illinois to class in the next town over. I was running a little behind and the roads were not in great shape. There was ice everywhere, and I knew that the going would be slow.  That is when I got behind the slowest driver around! For what seemed like an hour, I tried to with no success to get around the car in front of me. The longer I drove behind this vehicle the more angry I became! When I finally was able to swing my car out into the other lane to pass the car once and for all, I was in a complete state of "road rage." I wanted the driver to know how disgusted I was at their inability to drive their car appropriately. When I pulled alongside the driver and looked into the vehicle, I noticed that it was my Great Aunt in the car.  What?! My aunt.....ugh....
I knew a few things about my aunt. I knew that she was elderly. I knew that she had health issues of her own. I knew that she traveled weekly to the nursing home to read to the residents that could no longer read for themselves. I also knew that the book of choice was the Bible. Oh how I wanted to take it all back. All the rage, all frustration, all the looks and sighs that had filled the car ride!
Talk about a wake up call!
I can honestly tell you that this moment fixed my road rage problem once and for all!
 
Philippians 4:8 says: "And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise."
 
It is up to you what you think about. Choose to ponder this verse, but better yet....choose to put it into practice in your life! You'll be very glad you did! (You will be especially glad if this story saves you from making nasty faces at your sweet aunt.)




2 comments:

Unknown said...

This is exactly why my devotional was talking about yesterday! Thoughts are powerful. They can totally make or break your day... not to mention the impact they have on the words that come out of your mouth, effecting those around you!!

3 Girls, My Guy, and I said...

So true Jeniffer! Thanks for the comment!