Emotions are contagious. And little children have lots of emotions. They’ll be laughing with glee one minute, screaming in a panic the next, and throwing a tantrum the minute after that. When they’re smiling up into my eyes, I just can’t help smiling back, but when I’m hearing the start of a brawl over who decides what to do with the fun box Daddy brought home from work or who’s taking the larger half of the big desk chair, I can feel the irritation bubbling up in my own spirit, too. It always makes me think of a passage in Proverbs.
Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. –Proverbs 22:24-25
Angry people out in the world can sometimes be avoided, but we mothers often have a little brood of grumps right in our own homes and their anger is just as contagious. It doesn’t take much listening to irritation and bickering and our joy is getting dumped and splattered faster than the milk in a two-year-old’s big girl cup.
If we don’t want our families to live in homes overcome with bad attitudes, we need to fight back with a few contagious emotions of our own. Choosing to be the one with the joy is actually a lot easier than it sometimes feels, a lesson I learned from, all all things, my exercise DVD.
One of my favorite baby weight burners is an exercise DVD from BJU. For starters, the women wear clothes instead of glorified underwear. The music has no annoying lyrics to get stuck in my head and sung inadvertently at odd moments for my children to ask about. The late 80′s, early 90′s make-up and ginormous hair is, shall we say, fabulous. And best of all, it’s taught me this important truth.
See, at the start of one of the workouts that I do frequently, the instructor says, “Right heel and left toe. Get ready. Smile.” And maybe I’m just way too much of a follower, but I always do. No matter how joyless I actually was a minute before, I smile. Just like that. And I instantly feel better. I can’t smile long on the outside before the smile starts to become more real on the inside. I feel lighter, shed a few emotional pounds, notice that the world isn’t quite so bleak. And all it took was being told to do it. Oh, yes, smiling, right. Good idea. I can decide to kick my right heel out, and I can decide to smile.
God tells us to be joyful in Him, over and over in His Word. For example:
Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice. –Philippians 4:4
But we so often have excuses why that is just way too hard. Frequently, for us mommies, those excuses are short and share our last name. We can’t be joyful. These kids are driving us crazy! They’re crying and yelling and fighting and complaining, and Right heel and left toe. Get ready. Smile. If we can choose to kick our heel out, we can choose to smile. We can obey the Lord. We can spread joy. We can fight the irritation infestation with cheerful smiles that may have to start on the outside with mere muscle movements, but they can make their way inside as we lean on the Lord and choose to obey Him. Let’s spread a little joy today.
Get ready. Smile.
Yes! I’ve definitely noticed the same thing! Being joyful *is* a choice, a contagious choice! I’ve pointed out to the children that no matter what mood they seem to be in, somehow they can choose to answer the phone in a happy, delighted tone of voice… so we *can* choose to smile and be joyful even when we don’t feel like it in the flesh. Well put!
susan
Very Well Said. I love the excercise example too…I use simon says at my house and it really makes a difference. Simon says “kiss your sister”…Simon says “smile” – Next thing you know the selfish angry stuff has passed and we are back on track. Thank you for this…so good. May I link to it?
Mrs. Santos,
I would be delighted if you linked to my post!
Thanks! I smiled while I read it, and it was a great encouragement!
What a lovely post! It made me smile just reading it, and thus its appearance on my screen was well-timed.
Definitely going to have to check out that exercise video…. These elastic-waist skirts have hidden from me the subtle enlargement of my hips of late….
Let’s see if I can comment.. Yes, I should try that with my pilates class! Smile! Great idea.
My 2-year-old just reached a peak in his terrible twos. And I have reached a peak in being grumpy. So your post was just what I needed to hear today. Thank you!
Hi!
I have been an avid reader of your blog for months now, but I think this is the first time I’ve commented.
This post really made me smile. I love how God can teach us lessons through the simplest and most unexpected things in life.
Thanks for sharing this, it really brightened my morning!
Thank you so much for another timely comment. I was at the grocery store with my son today and he was touching things, asking for junk food, etc. As I kept correcting him, I remembered what you said and just kept smiling. It really helped me be less frustrated.
I’ll try to remember this.
Beautiful! Thanks
It is so true that the whole setting of a household can change with one grumpy person – of any age. Our family has often had discussion of how happiness comes from the inside and no one else can be blamed when we choose to give away our happiness.
I must check out these exercise videos – or, maybe not ;o)