Servant Mindset

Have you ever had one of THOSE days?! It starts out rough and seems to just get rockier as the day goes on. Starting with a meeting that didn’t go as planned; talking to a superior you respected and suddenly hear or experience something that crushes your previous respect for that person; an interaction with your spouse that leads to an argument; dinner that you worked hard on and your kid refused to eat it or worse yet called it yucky then asked for a snack. We’ve all been there. It’s part of being human, right?! But that doesn’t make the day sting any less or help the now bad mood you’ve found yourself in.

At the end of one of THOSE days, I find myself wondering- is it me? What part of that did I play? Why was everyone so awful today?! BUT WAIT- wait wait wait- if EVERYONE was awful, maybe there’s actually a common denominator there, and it wasn’t the everyone at all! Perhaps- just maybe, was I the grumpy one that set all those unfortunate events and interactions into motion? As I’m winding down for the day and reflecting back on my stinky day- I go to God in prayer, asking for direction. How can I better handle these events in the future? Do I need more sleep? Not get enough water today? For me- it was more of a mindset problem. Am I going about my day with the mindset of a servant? Am I going into that meeting fully prepared TO SERVE or to BE served? Did I interact with that person in a superior position with respect or did I approach that interaction a little too confidently? Was the argument with my spouse warranted or did I again go into that situation with the serve-me instead of how-can-I-serve-you mindset?

After a quick review of John 13- yep, it was me. I was definitely in the wrong mindset. Indeed I just may have (most definitely) been the problem today. I was not in a “let me wash your feet kind of mood” I was much more of the “get your stinky feet away from me!” mindset. 😬