“Snowball fight!” The kids cheered and giggled as they rounded the corner of the apartment hallway near me. Like most winter days I was walking my dog inside, trying to stay warm and away from the big frozen ice cube that had become the world outside. Within seconds the kids ran past me — snow pants, mittens, hats and all — and burst through the door, where their winter wonderland adventure could finally begin. They smiled and laughed as they catapulted white blobs into the air. I looked at them and furrowed my forehead, feeling dazed and confused. As an adult, there’s something about seeing children play in the snow that makes it hard for me to believe I ever reacted to winter in the same way. Because here’s the honest truth: I don’t like winter anymore. And it’s times like this when I just need prayer for a positive attitude.
When we moved to Minnesota back in 2014, I put on a brave face and feebly embraced it. In my mind, if we were going to be true Minnesotans, I had to at least make an effort. I drove to the second-hand sports store and bought some hockey gear and snow boots. I let my hockey-playing honey re-teach me how to skate. I agreed to a two-hour, outdoor engagement photo shoot in February (he proposed to me on an icy lake in January).
I was all in. And then, suddenly I wasn’t.
I don’t know when it happened, but somewhere along the way I became a winter Grinch. I actually teared up when the first snowfall hit this year. And they weren’t tears of joy.
I needed prayer for a positive attitude.
When I stepped outside, my thoughts immediately grew as cold as the temperatures outside.
So what’s a girl to do when she can’t seem to focus on anything but the negatives in life?
She gets an attitude adjustment.
As much as I’d like to sit around and complain about winter, I know focusing on the negatives won’t get me anywhere.
I have to have a different perspective.
Maybe you’ve been in a situation where you can’t see anything but the negatives, too. It doesn’t have to be a disdain for winter, but the irritation is the same…that feeling of discontentment, despair and wanting things to be different than they actually are. Maybe you, too, want prayer for a positive attitude.
I think we all can learn a lesson from the kids who were having a snowball fight outside my apartment complex. And the lesson is this: Life is often what we make it.
Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.”