Attitude grabs our attention in Christopher Robin Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh stories. Why? Eeyore, the gloomy, old grey donkey, focuses on gloom and doom in every situation. Tigger, the bouncy tiger, is cheerful, outgoing, and full of confidence. This orange and black striped fellow can’t imagine anything could go wrong. I want to say, I’m like Tigger, but sometimes Eeyore whispers so loudly in my heart’s ears, I lose focus.

The Choice of Attitude

Attitude makes a difference. As the moon reflects the sun, our disposition reflects the way we see our circumstances. And we see through the windows of our perspectives. In fact, we can change the course of life by altering our attitudes. 

Imprisoned in a tiny cell, the man known as “Prisoner 46664” paced the seven-foot square on Robben Island off the coast of South Africa. Nelson Mandela had to reach deep within himself to find the key to freedom in the place his warder expected him to die. He kept his hopes alive by visualizing himself released from captivity. 

Mandela once said, “I thought of the day when I would walk free. Repeatedly, I fantasized about what I would like to do.” His visualization of life outside incarceration helped him maintain a positive attitude, despite the pressures placed on him inside the prison.

Most of us have not spent more than a short time observing a prison cell. If we stepped in, we expected to step out as soon as we finished looking around. So, when the events of life confine us outside of our routines, our attitudes react.

The Challenge to Attitude

Nine months into 2020, many of us have wondered what hit us. We began the year with a political battle in Washington, D.C. No sooner did the flames of that fracas smolder than the pandemic gained speed. Before we could catch our breath, interruptions marked every area of our lives. Businesses shut down, churches and schools went online, and they canceled sporting events. Soon, we found ourselves marooned in our homes. The media highlighted the numbers of the infected and dying. However, we rarely saw numbers of the infected returning to good health. Then, a few months later, we ventured into our world, marking our time wearing masks. But the same was not the same. Life-interrupted became life-mutated into a strangely impaired image of what we had once known. 

Conversations revealed fear stewing with complaints. Sure, 2019 routines lost their way in 2020. The digital culture lurking just below the surface now owns communication. Political and racial division vie with the pandemic for our aggravation. Sporadic attempts to regroup highlight our need for community. But we still miss the sports outlet for discharging pent-up emotions. And faith adjustments are yet to solidify into an identifiable form. Our culture is changing as we perilously try to find our footing.

The Womb of Attitudes

Our attitudes find expression in the small space we occupy on the planet. We are responsible for our role in creating the surrounding atmosphere. For me, I try to “take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Our mindset begins in the thought world, developing its script from my self-talk. My memory, reading, viewing, or listening informs my self-talk. Like Robert Frost, I choose which road to take with whatever gets started in my mind. I must take the one less traveled if I want to make a difference. And you, too, must recognize that the human mind moves toward one’s most dominant thoughts. Ideas and impressions paint your attitude across your face and release it through your words. I find my submission to Jesus Christ helps me address the mental tug-o-war over the expression of my disposition.

The Hope for Attitudes

The issues seeking our attention will shape adjustments in our culture. Eventually, we will adjust as human beings have been adjusting since people first walked in the light. We tweak slight changes with the way we meet challenges with attitudes that reflect the attitude of Christ Jesus. So, I encourage you with a word from Paul: 

Keep your thoughts continually fixed on all that is authentic and real, honorable and admirable, beautiful and respectful, pure and holy, merciful and kind. And fasten your thoughts on every glorious work of God, praising him always.

Philippians 4:8-9, TPT