Life Lessons: Stay away from the mud puddles!

Lately, Caleb (9 yrs), has been having many difficult moments with a negative attitude. We have tried sending him to his room for quiet time. We've tried talking with him about having a good attitude; about choosing to have a good attitude. We've tried teasing/joking with him to try and pull him out of it. Nothing seems to have stuck with him.

Then today, I got a word picture in my head about it all...

"Caleb, what would happen if you saw a mud puddle? Let's say that you're walking along and all of a sudden, a huge muddy puddle was in front of you. What would happen if you walked into it?"

"I'd get muddy."

"Yes! And then you'd track mud all over the place until all of the mud had come off of you." (He smiled.) "What would happen if you walked around it?"

"I'd stay clean."

"Yes, you would!
Caleb, when we have a negative attitude about things, it's just like walking into a mud puddle. We get stuck and yucky, and we track that bad attitude all around with us until we run out of 'mud'."

(here I joked with him)" And I just cleaned up my floors and I don't want any mud getting tracked in here!" (He laughed.)

"So son, what are you going to choose to do? Are you going to walk into the mud puddle or around it?"

"Around it."

"Good choice, Caleb. Good choice."

How often we need to remind ourselves that we can choose to walk around those negative attitudes rather than drudging through them. We cannot keep bad things from happening in our lives, but we can choose how we will respond to them. Will we sulk and pout or accept and be thankful? I know that there have been times of extreme loss and grief in my life; and I'm not talking about 'put on a happy face' during those types of circumstances. I'm referring to the 'broken nails of life'; those things that irk you, but aren't issues of life and death.

Let's put these 'broken nails' into perspective the next time that we are tempted to throw a pity party for ourselves over trivial things. Let's choose to stay away from the mud puddles and keep our floors (and hearts) clean.


Psalm 40:2

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.


Proverbs 23:15-19,22-26

My son, if your heart is wise,
then my heart will be glad;
my inmost being will rejoice
when your lips speak what is right.

Do not let your heart envy sinners,
but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD.
There is surely a future hope for you,
and your hope will not be cut off.

Listen, my son, and be wise,
and keep your heart on the right path.
Listen to your father, who gave you life,
and do not despise your mother when she is old.
Buy the truth and do not sell it;
get wisdom, discipline and understanding.
The father of a righteous man has great joy;
he who has a wise son delights in him.
May your father and mother be glad;
may she who gave you birth rejoice!

My son, give me your heart
and let your eyes keep to my ways...