Words are important aren’t they? But so much is determined by who speaks them. If my friend says she likes my outfit, I’ll head out with a kick in my step and head held high. If my dad does, I’ll get changed.
Mornings are a case in point. Most days I wake up with crocodile breath and a crocodile attitude. Scaly and knobbly with hard beady eyes and bared teeth. The day’s already lasted too long and where’s the breakfast fairy with my order?
The question is, what do I do next? Keep talking to myself? Or allow God to speak into and reframe my world?
Here’s the thing. My default setting is not Happy. It’s Discontented. Grumpy. And Irritable. If I don’t change the channel early on, I get stuck. 24/7 repeats of me. ‘The Only Way is Emma’ – so-called ‘reality’, that’s actually just a cheap imitation. No wonder I start feeling depressed.
There’s are seismic shifts in my heart, before and after I spend time with God. Here’s a few:
seeing a difference between wants and needs
a world that revolves around Me and one that centres on Him
a spirit of rest and gentleness, rather than propulsion into activity and performance (work in progress)
an openness to others and desire to bless instead of take
the ability to helicopter back from a situation instead of getting lost in the details.
a sense of humour. (Again, work in progress).
In my world, much depends on breakfast. And I don’t just mean toast.