This morning on the way to school my little one realized as she scrambled to put on her new tennis shoes on that there was a fabric on the inside of the shoe that had come unraveled even after a couple of wears.

I knew what was going to come unraveled next….her attitude.

These are things that get under her skin in the worst kind of way. She is one of those….

I used to laugh at the mom’s that bought the “special no seam” socks for their children so that they would not have to deal with the disgruntled attitude that always followed. After child #3, I BECAME one of those Mama’s!

In her frustration, she insisted, that I should bring her another pair of shoes to school.

Normally, I would try to help out, but on this particular day, she needed to understand that it was going to be something that just happens in life and to try hard to not let it disrupt her day.

I assured her that these shoes would be fine today and to go ahead and lace them up or I would show her the true meaning of unraveling. Now, you need to realize that much drama appeared in the car to make me spout off that comment. She totally understood what I meant. 🙂

How many times do we allow unraveling to occur in our hearts and affect our attitude? Sometimes even dictate the attitude that we would have for that day?

A change in your schedule, an unexpected bill, or even oversleeping one morning and having to rush through your day? These are circumstances that can begin an unraveling in our hearts.

Sometimes, it even spills out…onto others.

Matthew 15:18 says “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.”

This is a practice I have begun trying to implement…but don’t always do so eloquently.

I begin telling myself…I have a choice of how I am going to handle this situation. I can explode and watch all the debris fall where it may or I can calmly realize this is not something that I will allow the enemy to use to take away my Peace and Joy.

Ten years ago before I encountered a life and death illness, God had me walk through the most amazing study on Philippians. Jesus knew I would need to learn about how to maintain His Joy in my life when things started to crumble.

Philippians 4:12-13 “I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. {NLT}