Attitude Is Everything

by Brandy Web

I have been teaching my kids this lesson for the past few weeks because I have realized how easy our attitudes can ruin our whole day. I do not enjoy having a bad attitude, and I really do not enjoy when the kids are having bad attitudes. Therefore, the kids and I have really been trying to work on our attitudes lately, so this topic has stuck in my head.

I have realized that someone’s attitude can make or break the day. If I wake up in the morning irritable, it sets the stage of how my kids are going to respond, especially in schooling; but when I wake up cheerful, it helps them to have good attitudes. The main thing for me to remember is that it is my choice to have a good attitude or not.

If we go through life and trials with trust, faith, and determination to move forward with the power of thankfulness for the blessings, then we are able to live in a peaceful mood. This peaceful mood will also branch out to those around you, and may help them to have good attitudes. I know it is my choice to have a bad attitude or not, but it is definitely a lot easier to have a good attitude when I am around someone in a good mood.

On the flip side though, if we allow life and trials to grab us and drop us, and act “oh woe is me” and scour and complain, then others will not want to be around us because we will drag them down with us. Attitude is a powerful force to behold.

I have met some really thankful people in my life, and the irony is that most of them where at Texas Children’s hospital in Houston, TX on the sixth floor. This floor is where the terminally ill children stay.

I lived on the sixth floor of Texas Children’s Hospital for nearly a month when I was 13. Many of the children around me were dying, but what was amazing was that they were joyful and thankful. Why? Because they knew that they only had a short time left, and they did not want to ruin that short time by feeling sorry for themselves or dwelling on the pain. They were joyful for every day they had. They thrived on laughter and hope.

Watching those other children helped me to stay in a good and hopeful mood. To be honest, I displayed a lot more faith at thirteen than I seem to do now at thirty-five. The doctors thought I had the beginning signs of leukemia, but I was determined to stay positive, full of faith and hope that I was getting out of the hospital just fine.

God did heal me. Sadly, I am sure healing did not come to some of the other children, but they were not going to let dying cause them to stop living. They not only brought joy to me, but the nurses felt it, the doctors, and also their families.

Attitude is everything when it comes to enjoying our lives. So, to “conclude: you must all have the same attitude and the same feelings; love one another, and be kind and humble with one another. Do not pay back evil with evil or cursing with cursing; instead, pay back with a blessing, because a blessing is what God promised to give you when he called you” (1 Peter 3:8-9, Good News Translation).