It is time for an Attitude Makeover: What is your Event/React Ratio?

Imagine you are driving down the road minding your own business when someone abruptly pulls out in front of you and almost causes a terrible wreck. To take it a step further you have your niece in the car who is only 2 years old! What would you do? The answer will surely vary depending upon your Event/React Ratio. Some people would chase the car down, getting within a hairs distance of running the car off the road to teach the driver a lesson. Some would lay on the horn and possibly say some words they would not dare share at Bible Study or in their Small Group. Others would give all praise and all glory to God for his Divine Protection, because what could have happened didn't happen. You get where I am going here. At one point in my life I can surely tell you I would have fit in the first two scenarios of getting myself all worked up to the point of wanting to get back at the driver. Said another way my level of Reacting would have outweighed the actual event itself. Let's go back to the driver that cut you off. What if you knew ahead of time that this driver was rushing his 5 year old daughter to the hospital, because she had just been hit by a car. If you knew this information it would surely change the way you React to the person who cut you off. You might say, "I will give him a break because he had an excuse." The point I am trying to make is right or wrong there is always two sides to a story. However, as human beings we are emotional and our first move is to react to what someone has done to hurt our feelings. Growing as a person and growing spiritually means your Reaction scale should continue to decrease over time. Our attitude can effect our family, friends, character, career, mental health, physical health, and spiritual well being just to name a few. Even though Jesus was called many names and mistreated on many occasions he continued to walk in the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control). This is what DETERMINED EVENTS SENT TO IGNITE A NEW YOU is all about. When an event good or bad comes our way, we should strive to have victory over the event with our attitudes and actions. This means loving someone when he hates you, helping someone when he closes the door in your face, and forgiving someone when he slanders your name. I know it is hard, but if we grab hold of becoming a New You we can all shine light upon the world. Let no foul or polluting language, nor evil word nor unwholesome or worthless talk ever come out of your mouth, but only such speech as is good and beneficial to the spiritual progress of others, as is fitting to the need and the occasion, that it may be a blessing and give grace (God's favor) to those who hear it. Ephesians 4:29 Amplified. I will close with a quote by Charles R. Swindoll: "The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church.. a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you...we are in charge of our Attitudes."