Simply Ridiculous -

Have you ever had a "bad day" and then a week later looked back and realized it wasn't all that bad?

What about times when you get upset over something and then question if it was really worth the blow up?

Well, this morning I had the pleasure of walking a darling, sometimes emotional, 7-year-old girl through the ridiculousness of our petty emotions. I told her (and her brother, too! She tried to say I wasn't being fair, but Gannon had the same rule.) that she could play on the computer after she got dressed and brushed her teeth. Then she stomped up the stairs and shut her bedroom door, rather harshly, I might add. After she was dressed for school and continued to display a pouty face and a whiny voice, I suggested we sit on the stairs for a little chat. (learning moment? hopefully.) I said, "Channing, tell me what's really wrong? Why are you upset?" She started to reply, "Well, I just want to do what I want to do!" She barely made it through her answer before I saw her mouth twitch and she quickly put her head in her lap. Knowing that whatever frustration she felt seemed to have diminished, I teased her, "Channing - are you laughing? Do you know that there is NO laughing in this house?!" (One of my parents used to joke like that all the time, I don't remember who.) Then she did smile and laugh! I told her: "You know what my mom always tells me? Nobody will want to be around you if you're grumpy." Her eyes got big and she said, "That's what MY mom tells ME!" (It must be a mom thing.) The point is, Chan had spent all morning going back and forth between grumpy/happy, and choosing to act out of her emotions in the moment. She didn't look at the fact that getting dressed takes her about 3 minutes, so it's REALLY not worth getting so upset over.

This made me think about how I typically deal with my own, sometimes flippant, emotions. Usually what happens, is that I realize I'm frustrated (or insecure, or angry, or growing bitter, etc, etc) and then I get frustrated that I'm frustrated. It's like the snowball effect - my emotions just build up until the frustration is WAY bigger than necessary and the thing that originally caused frustration shouldn't even qualify as a frustration-causing event.

NOTE: It is okay to have emotions!!!

2nd NOTE: There IS a healthy way to deal with emotions.

That being said, I will choose to take my thoughts captive and make them obedient to Christ. (2 Corinthians 10:4-5) Practically, this means that I am not going to dwell on negative emotions that build up into one big ball of frustration.

Frustration is not a reason to be more frustrated - It's a vicious cycle.