Just Not Feeling It

We may be in a room with people who are quite perky, talkative, and beaming like the sun. In fact, they are so doggone happy that they may annoy us! After all, we may be carrying the weight of the world on our shoulders and their high-spirits and cheeriness is rubbing us the wrong way!

I might be that perky, annoying one from time to time. I am so full of goodwill and joy that I’m not going to allow a cloud or someone’s crankiness to ruin my day. On the other hand, I might also be the one who is extremely annoyed by those goody-two-shoes and their bent toward the “good ship lollipop”.

I’ve heard it said: “Be a thermostat – not a thermometer!” Here in Austin, at this time of the year, we often look at the thermometer because our temperature can be high highs or low lows. We may need a jacket or short sleeves shirt. In Texas, in one day’s time, we can experience all four seasons!

Are we like thermostats or thermometers? A thermostat regulates the temperature and atmosphere of the room (or wherever we may be). It is set to a temperature, and if the atmosphere around it heats up, it kicks in and gets that temperature back to normal. On the flip side, a thermometer reacts to the temperature and atmosphere around it. If the air around it heats up, it heats up too.

In other words, a thermometer is controlled by its atmosphere; a thermostat controls its atmosphere. There’s a big difference.

You’ve probably heard the phrase “If mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” Mama’s thermostat usually must be on top of her game but there’s just times when mama is too tired to even try.

I want to stay on top of my game. I want to be a thermostat! But often I find myself drained, exhausted and just plain ol’ worn out, like those duty-filled mamas.

The more I focus on the temperature (or the people in the room that may be bugging me because they are too spirited or bugging me because they are too grumpy), the more MY temperature seems to rise.

That gets me thinking about the importance of being a thermostat, not a thermometer – especially in being cognizant of those around us – being gentle, caring, supportive, understanding, and wise about where people might be in their hearts and spirits.

In our younger years, my husband and I ran a day care center with up to 85 pre-school children. One of the many valuable tools we learned was the importance of keeping our equilibrium when coping with a small person determined to have a temper tantrum. When we took a deep breath and talked to them on their level with good humor and tenderness, we conquered. We became their thermostat.

It works with adults also. We take on a thermostat mindset – determining to be the middle ground of understanding the amped up cheery ones and the downtrodden ones. In other words, it doesn’t matter what the ‘temperature’ is of the person we are dealing with, we set the atmosphere for peace, comfort and joy – without antagonizing them with too much perkiness or too much grumpiness.

The Apostle Paul was a thermostat. He put it this way in 1 Corinthians 9:22: “To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” I think that means we should be “all things to all people”.

Paul also wrote about the Fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”

I want to be THAT thermostat – how about you?