Control Issues (Trina Agee Cornell)

Again tonight, we are blessed by the words of my good friend, Trina Agee Cornell!

There are a lot of things in this world that we cannot control.  The weather is definitely one of those things - we went from six inches of snow on Wednesday to 60-degree temps on Saturday.  The news also fits into this category - everyday, we hear about the newest crime, the most recent debate, and the latest in pop culture.  As control-seeking as we can be, there is a great deal out of our realm of influence.

Amid the craziness this world presents, there are two things you can always control: your attitude and your effort.  Your attitude is directly connected to your mindset and your perspective.  If you choose to focus on the negative aspects of your life, your attitude will reflect those thoughts.  The reverse is also true - if you choose to focus on the positive aspects of life, your attitude will be a reflection of it.  Your effort - how hard you work - is always within your control. If you have a goal in life - something you want to reach - but you put no effort toward it, nothing will be accomplished.  

With that in mind, I have a quote hanging up in my classroom - "You are always responsible for how you act, no matter how you feel".  This is one of the very first lessons I taught my children this year - at the middle school age, drama seems to run rampant, justified or unjustified.  The first thing they want to do, when they feel attacked, is to lash out and make the situation worse.  Every choice they make has its own consequence - good or bad.  They may not feel like being nice, but it is the best route to take - the proverbial high road, if you will.  

“A person without self-control is like a city with broken-down walls” – wise words from the book of Proverbs.  Self-control is one of the many fruits of the Spirit – and something we should continue to grow in our lives.  We have to learn how to exercise this in our day-to-day interactions – we must think through our decisions before we act upon them.  If we are called to be different in this world, our attitudes and our efforts must reflect this – without fail.

God bless, Steve Luke 18:1
www.hawleybooks.com E-mail me at steve@hawleybooks.com