Throw that attitude out the door....

"I DON'T WANT TO!"...... "WHY do I have to do my school?"...... "I ALREADY know how to do that!!" are all statements I sometimes hear in the morning.... well sometimes is actually an understatement. I actually hear at LEAST one of those every morning! You see, I home school Austanne (6 yrs in 1st grade) and Tabitha (5 yrs in Kindergarten). Typically those statements come from Austanne. So today was no shock when she began to whine and complain how its so horrible that she has to sit down and do her work instead of coloring in her coloring book.

Horrible mother I am, I am not enabling the artist within her to achieve its dreams to the fullest. I know... bad mom! Well at least in her world I am! We had a "nice" shall I say heart to heart conversation as I informed her she needed to grab her bad attitude and throw it out the front door.... begrudgingly she did..... she walked to the front door, I opened it and she signaled as to throw it out the door. Funny, she did not really aim. I said, "Austanne, you missed! Now pick that attitude up off the floor and throw it out the door!".... so she bent over, face all contorted in more ways than it should ever be, giving the look that could kill someone, as she reached over, grabbing her bad attitude and then threw it out the door! I said, "good job! Now... let's get your school work done!"

Not a happy little girl I have to say! But things changed in about two minutes when she heard the two best words a girl could EVER hear her age (in her mind at least!)...... bicycle ride! Yes! Today was nice and we can go ride bikes! My my... what a change in attitude! The child whose face was so contorted she looked like something off Ripleys Believe It Or Not was now looking like a beautiful angelic child.... the child I once thought I had bore. My how she completed all her work! My how happy and joyful she was!

How that strikes me as something that I can parallel in my life! When God says, "You need to do this.." I am thinking, "God.... why? I don't want to! It's not on my plans for the day.... I don't know if I can squeeze it in! You see, I have more important things I need to do today... like ___________ and ____________. " My am I SO guilty!

But God has greater plans for us! Greater plans for our day.... greater plans for our week and a much greater plan for our lives! He wants us to grow, just like I want to see my daughter grow in knowledge! He wants us to grow and stretch not only mentally, emotionally, socially... but even spiritually! He wants us to reach to Him, give HIM our trust, give HIM our faith..... give HIM our hearts!

I encourage you to take a moment, step back and think, "What am I doing today..... is this something God has for me to do or is this something I am planning to do just to keep away from doing what God has for me?" I encourage you to take a moment... are you missing out on those opportunities to grow just so you can sit in your room and "color in the coloring book"?

The bike ride was great! She had a lot of fun, racing me (and beating me!) while we played games and had an all around fun time! Was it worth laying down that coloring page to do a little work.... to get to the end goal...... I don't know... you tell me! 

Jeremiah 29:11

New International Version (NIV)

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.