Miss Grouchy Pants / Tuesday's Choice

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just find you've woken up grouchy?  NO!  I'm not talking about my husband  who I might call "Grouchy" ('cause REALLY he's not!!!) -  ME!!! GROUCHY!!  I'm the grouchy bear.  I lay in bed this morning thinking about the day and just wanted to stay in bed.  I just wanted to be mad.  I'd had some sort of a dream and I was frustrated and angry in it, and that's how I woke up.  I was ready to tear off anyone's head who DARED come near me.  (I know, not quite Christ-like was it :-(  )

As I lay there, I thought how am I supposed to show love to my family?  How am I supposed to share a spiritual tidbit on my blog, when I feel FAR from spiritual this morning. I lay in bed struggling with how to get over my growlies and I started to pray.  I asked God to change my heart.  To change my attitude.  Still, every part of me just wanted to roll over and forget about getting breakfast for me kids.  Forget about wishing hubby good morning.  Forget about teaching piano.  Just forget about doing anything but being grouchy!

As the moments ticked by, I started to think about what God wanted of me, and I started to have this mental argument with God. "But I don't feel like it.  Why can't I have ONE day - just ONE day where I can wake up like a bear and growl at the rest, just the way my kids do at me?  Why can't I just stay in bed and be mad?"  Well, you can pretty much figure out what happened.  I started to feel guilty and started thinking about the amazing things I have in my life. I started to think about all the things God has given to me over the months.  All the miracles, big and small that He has blessed me with.  "SHOOT!!!  God, I wanted to be mad, not thankful!"

So I dragged myself out of bed, and decided I was going to be cheerful.  Okay, that's not entirely true.  I decided I wasn't going to snap anyone's head off. I figured that would be a start.  I made it out of the bedroom, past my husband, past my kids and into our prayer room. (Prayer Room)  I sat down in front of the computer, and wouldn't you know it, the song that was playing in our prayer room was "I Love You Lord" and the very lyrics that came on as I sat down were this:

I love you Lord, and I lift my voice

to worship you, O my soul, REJOICE

Take joy my King, in what you hear

May it be a sweet sweet sound in your ear.

YIKES!!!! If that wasn't enough to snap me out of my grouchies.  I did have to chuckle how God works out those things in our lives.  There was such a battle this morning between Satan and God's angels. But thankfully today, I reached out to God and asked for His help, and sure enough, He spoke to me and stopped Satan's grasp on my attitude and turned what could have been a really grouchy morning, into a morning of praise.

So if you are feeling grouchy this morning, join me in focusing on what God has given to us.  I know here in Manitoba with all this cold weather and snow, it's easy to get focused on the negative.  It's easy to feel spring is never going to come, but join me in watching this video, won't you?  The images of God's wonderful creation, and the words of praise, may just get you out of your grouchies this morning.  Praise God - it did for me!!

(PS, after the video, I have included our memorizing passage for today.  Thought I might need to mull this one over and over this week!!!  Blessings on you and may God's joy and praise be felt in your heart today!)

Tuesday's Choice:  (figured this was appropriate for me this a.m.)

Psalm 150

1  Praise the Lord.  Praise God in his sanctuary;
2  Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.
3  Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre,
4  praise him with tambourine and dancing, praise him with the strings and flute,
5  praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with the resounding cymbals.
6  Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.   PRAISE THE LORD.