The Mood Game

Have you ever played the mood game? One minute you're feeling like your on cloud nine and then just a few hours later you are contemplating why you even care about anything? One instant you're loving life and then the next you're questioning why it's gotta be so dang hard sometimes?
With me, my mood tends to be effected by the weather. Anyone who knows me fairly well, knows that I am not a fan of winter...period. Snow and cold temps are acceptable for Christmas Day and that day only in my mind. Many people have experienced my random cries of angst over frozen objects, cold hands and toes, and be bundled up, feeling like the Michelan Man. And of course they happen to often find it quite amusing much to my continued angst. ;)
So the other day I was at work and it of course, was a typical gloomy and cold January morning. And I have to say my mood was not in the greatest of shapes. I had much grievance on my mind at the time and it was one of those times when you wondered why you even cared about what was going on around you and you just wanted to crawl in a hole and be alone for like forever. Anyway...as the morning progressed, all the sudden the sun made its presence know and the skies cleared. And like a lightbulb, as the warm sun seeped into my bundled body, a warmth took to my mood. Suddenly the coldness seemed to just disappear and I didn't even care anymore that it was winter. All I could feel was the warmth on face, hear the birds chirping and feel my soul coming alive. And I couldn't help but burst into a smile and feel a refreshed pep in my step and hope in my heart.
Now you may be asking where in heck am I going with this....or analyzing whether or not I may be bi-polar...haha! But as I thought about it later that day, it struck me, how a simple change in the weather could cause such a difference on my mood and outlook on that day. Even later in the day the gloomy skies returned and I could slowly feel my mood trying to shift back to match the gloominess. But I began to wonder why. Why should such a thing affect how I feel? I may not like winter, but why should that change how I view the day? Am I not alive and breathing? Did I not have the ability to get out of bed this morning? Am I not walking on two feet and getting to be out in creation instead of a stuffy office?  Why should a silly thing like the weather change how I feel?
I believe we grow up associating our external surroundings with certain feelings. A raining, gloomy day can make us feel sad. I mean rain on a wedding day can be considered a bad omen right? As kids who didn't draw a sun with a smiley face on it because the sun is supposed to happy of course! The cold outside can make us feel cozy inside by the fire. The heat can make us either really enjoy the pool or make us irritable and sluggish. But how much of this is actually just all in our head? I mean obviously we can have physical reactions to these different things, but should they really have that much of a profound effect on us?
And as I continued to think, I wondered if people noticed the changes in mood in each other according to this. Could people tell the difference in me? What kind of message was I sending to others? That my attitude could be changed so easily by my surroundings and the thoughts that I let it breed in my mind? God doesn't want us to be people who are easily tossed about by the external elements around us. Just because it's a gloomy day and our current circumstances might not be ideal, doesn't mean that it's not a day to celebrated. Just because the sun's not shining doesn't mean it can be a good day to be enjoyed. It can be 10 below and you can still trudge out in knee deep snow to break ice in the water tank with pep in your step. You can be knee deep in mud and soaked through with a smile still on your face while tying to chase unruly horses. You can lift your face to the bitter cold wind or the heat waves and have the most ridiculous grin on your face because nothing can touch your soul. Our source or quality of life doesn't come from the things around us....the situations, the circumstances, the people, or the weather.  It comes from deep within us; from what we know to be true. That Someone gave us another day to live and breathe oxygen. To soak in the sun, to feel the rain on our skin, to appreciate that we have fingers and toes that tell us when they're getting too cold, to catch a snowflake on our tongue, to learn from our mistakes and try again and to make a difference in our world. What would people say if we were the ones always smiling no matter what the day was like? If we were the ones soaked to the bone but dancing in the rain. Cheeks frozen into a permanent grin? Sweating bullets but still laughing?
I don't want my mood to be affected by something as petty as the weather or by how other people are feeling and acting. I want to be the mood changer and the winner of the mood game. I want to be the one who brings the sun with me every day because I have the true Son in me!