How do you see it?

How is your day looking? I woke up this morning to snow falling. We haven’t had a snowfall this year and it is quite beautiful as it falls.

I picked up the phone and called my mom to tell her it was snowing here. Her response was less than excited.

You see it was also snowing at her home in North Carolina. The difference? It snowed last week at her house and the they had sleet and freezing rain on top of it. All of the mess from last week finally melted and yesterday was the first full day they could get out and about without any trouble. Then she wakes up to snow falling today, with the prediction of an even bigger snow fall to hit Wednesday.

She had a different perspective than I did.

While I don’t particularly like cold weather or snow, I haven’t been locked in my home for a week, so I see the snow as beautiful this morning. My mother, on the other hand, has had her life disrupted for the last week due to snow, so she sees it as a nuisance this morning.

Being my mom, as we talked she began to say things like,

It really is pretty when it falls.”

A little later she said,

At least it’s a powdery snow, which makes it easier to clean up.”

She changed her tune because she knew she couldn’t make it stop snowing and she couldn’t make it go away. The only thing she could change was her attitude.

Philippians 4:8 says,

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable– if anything is excellent or praiseworthy– think about such things.”

The difference between having a good day and a bad day can be as simple as a change in attitude. Inconveniences, trials and troubles are going to happen. They are just a part of life. The question is, what are you going to focus on? Where will you lock your gaze?

My grandmother used to have a needlepoint of the Serenity Prayer hanging on the wall. It said,

God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can and wisdom to know the difference.”

What kind of a day are you going to have today? It’s up to you.