Serving with Gladness

Superbowl Sunday didn't start off so "super" at my house! My husband went to the doctor last Friday and was diagnosed with the flu. He decided to stay home on Sunday morning as not to infect everyone else at church. I was having contractions all weekend and decided Saturday night that I would stay home, too. We would all skip church--after all, we had valid excuses, right? Sunday morning, I was awoken by the ringing telephone. It was one of the ladies I teach Sunday School with. Her son had been sick all night and she would not be coming to church to help me teach. She had spoken with our other teacher (3 of us teach the two year olds) and that teacher woke up with a bad rash. I realized if I stayed at home, there would not be anyone to teach the two year olds. I proceeded to get myself moving and get the children going. I wasn't in the best of moods. I piled the children in my car and got everyone buckled in, only to turn the ignition key and my battery was dead! Oh joy. I waddled back in the house to get my husband's keys (he was still fast asleep from the flu medicine he was taking), unbuckled the kids, piled them in his truck in the pouring rain, and headed to church. The whole way down the interstate, all I could think of was "What a crummy way to start the day! I don't feel good, I don't look good, my car won't start, it's raining and I have two kids to get out of the truck and into the church under one umbrella!" It was almost as though the Holy Spirit was shaking His head listening to my complaints and reading my attitude.

When I walked into my Sunday School class and saw twice as many two year olds than normal, I felt my bad attitude turn up a notch. Then I remembered Ephesians 6:7, "Serve wholeheartedly with gladness, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does." I was not serving "with gladness". I was letting the frustrations of the day get the best of me. How was God going to use someone with a bad attitude?

I was wanting to pity myself because I wasn't feeling well and now I was left by myself with a large class and no help; not to mention, a car that wouldn't start back home and a sick husband. I had to make a decision: stay mad about my day or get over it. "Serving wholeheartedly with gladness" is a choice. Through all of the ups and downs of your day, which choice will you make?