I did get out and read your post, but after two failed tries and losing what I'd typed in both times, I gave up and came back here to reply.
I'm also a Swindoll fan, and agree with what you quote. Our attitudes are one thing we can choose. But choosing doesn't necessarily mean controlling. Discipline is not my Strong point! Too often, my will is weak, and I end up doing what I don't want, and not doing what I do want. I've forgotten the scripture reference, but I think it's in Romans...definitely a Pauline epistle!
Nice to get the link to your blog! Thanks. Its worth paying a visit to, appreciate that you are maintaining it.
I had to go out and look up p90x. Wow, there's a trail I could never embark upon! Impressive in that way!
But, seriously, I think attitudes are terribly overrated! We moderns are so insistent that if we fix our attitudes our lives would be in good shape! But attitudes get us only half way to the root of our responses to life. Our attitudes are nothing more than the expression of our relationship to our Creator. If we have a rotten attitude, it simply reflects frustrations with ME and MINE (leaving God out of the picture) -- a perfectly natural response to who we are. However rotten attitudes demonstrate how little we know God and depend on His relationship to us. They reflect how little we know God's word and how little we desire to let our lives reflect His glory. One personal experience I had along this line was when I stopped praying for patience because I finally realized that the way I grow in patience is to practice it! If I am going to ask God to give me patience, about the best He can do is send me trials! (Which is probably why James 1 says to count trails as joy. i.e. God is paying attention to your needs in giving you what you need to grow into Christlikeness.) But really I don't think my comments are foreign to what your post is trying to say for you end the same way I do--"What is it that God wants?" And that undoubtedly involves a second question that circles back the idea of "resolving" -- "How much do I want my life to line up with what God wants?"
(Thanks for snagging me into a bit of contemplation.)
Thanks for the feedback! Your comments might give me content for a follow-up blog on attitude.
Regarding your take on attitude, I am inclined to agree with you with the assumption that you are tying your notion of attitude to emotion or felt identity.
I tend to frame the definition of attitude similar to how we might define or perceive a world view. In other words, my attitude is simply how I choose to view and accept my identity. Rather than attitude having a close correlation to my emotions or to how I feel, I must ground my attitude to something outside of me. If that paradigm is the lens through which my Creator sees and defines me, than attitude is fundamental to my identity and has very little to do with how I am feeling at any moment in time.
Comments
Re: On New Year's Resolutions
Thanks for posting! Glad to see you here!
Re: On New Year's Resolutions
I did get out and read your post, but after two failed tries and losing what I'd typed in both times, I gave up and came back here to reply.
I'm also a Swindoll fan, and agree with what you quote. Our attitudes are one thing we can choose. But choosing doesn't necessarily mean controlling. Discipline is not my Strong point! Too often, my will is weak, and I end up doing what I don't want, and not doing what I do want. I've forgotten the scripture reference, but I think it's in Romans...definitely a Pauline epistle!
Re: On New Year's Resolutions
Nice to get the link to your blog! Thanks. Its worth paying a visit to, appreciate that you are maintaining it.
I had to go out and look up p90x. Wow, there's a trail I could never embark upon! Impressive in that way!
But, seriously, I think attitudes are terribly overrated! We moderns are so insistent that if we fix our attitudes our lives would be in good shape! But attitudes get us only half way to the root of our responses to life. Our attitudes are nothing more than the expression of our relationship to our Creator. If we have a rotten attitude, it simply reflects frustrations with ME and MINE (leaving God out of the picture) -- a perfectly natural response to who we are. However rotten attitudes demonstrate how little we know God and depend on His relationship to us. They reflect how little we know God's word and how little we desire to let our lives reflect His glory. One personal experience I had along this line was when I stopped praying for patience because I finally realized that the way I grow in patience is to practice it! If I am going to ask God to give me patience, about the best He can do is send me trials! (Which is probably why James 1 says to count trails as joy. i.e. God is paying attention to your needs in giving you what you need to grow into Christlikeness.) But really I don't think my comments are foreign to what your post is trying to say for you end the same way I do--"What is it that God wants?" And that undoubtedly involves a second question that circles back the idea of "resolving" -- "How much do I want my life to line up with what God wants?"
(Thanks for snagging me into a bit of contemplation.)
Re: On New Year's Resolutions
Thanks for the feedback! Your comments might give me content for a follow-up blog on attitude.
Regarding your take on attitude, I am inclined to agree with you with the assumption that you are tying your notion of attitude to emotion or felt identity.
I tend to frame the definition of attitude similar to how we might define or perceive a world view. In other words, my attitude is simply how I choose to view and accept my identity. Rather than attitude having a close correlation to my emotions or to how I feel, I must ground my attitude to something outside of me. If that paradigm is the lens through which my Creator sees and defines me, than attitude is fundamental to my identity and has very little to do with how I am feeling at any moment in time.
Re: On New Year's Resolutions
Ah, yes, I think that is close to what I was trying to say!