How is your attitude today?

I always feel kind of sorry for others when I’m in a reflective mood. I’ve been studying the Book of Jonah for a number of weeks and had a moment last week wondering if I was like Jonah. (Not the obedient, prophet part of Jonah, but the whiny baby side.)

You know the story. God gives Jonah a clear directive, “Get up! Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because their wickedness has confronted Me.” (Jonah 1:2) I’m not sure of all Jonah’s reasons, but he ran. It got me thinking. What are the directives from God that scare me? What brings so much fear that I would rather run than face it? Is there anything that I’m running from now?

You know how things continue to get worse when we run. If it is Jonah or us running from God is not good thing. And before you know it you feel trapped in the belly of a fish. You intended to run, avoid and ignore the problem. Then all of the sudden life is stinky fish guts and you are stuck in the middle of the muck. How many times have I been stuck like Jonah before I quit running from God?

Jonah eventually obeys God (Jonah 3:3) but instead of ending on a positive note Jonah is angry and bitter. Being in the reflective mode, I had to ask myself some questions. How often do I obey God but I’m not really happy about it? And how could I be so proud and arrogant to think I know better than God on anything?

So where is this going? Jonah messed up in the beginning and in the end, but he had his moment. He had that moment in time when he obeyed God. Sometimes we are afraid and we don’t obey God as quickly as we should. Sometimes we don’t have the best attitude even if we do obey God. Does Jonah remind you of any middle school or high school girls you know?

If anyone can have an attitude, it is a middle school or high school girl! And through those middle or high school years in particular, it is good to be able to point to an example of someone who messed up and disobeyed God. Then to be able to identify that defining moment (Jonah 3:3) when Jonah submitted to God’s authority over his life and obeyed. Even if Jonah didn’t get it right afterwards with his bad attitude, he had that moment of obedience that made a difference in the lives of over 120,000 people (Jonah 4:11).

Girls, young and old, need to know that no matter what we’ve done in the past or no matter how we may mess up in the future, God still has a plan for us. There may be days when we run. There may be days when we are angry or have a bad attitude. But there also may be those days when we obey God, get it right and make a difference in the lives of those around us. God has defining moments planned for each of us (Eph. 2:10). Today I am going to look for the obedient Jonah and the defining moments…and try my hardest to avoid the whiny baby! How is your attitude today?