Recently, I got to thinking about moodiness. I even wondered if the bible spoke to moodiness, because it seems to be a more of a 20th century psychological buzz word. Guess what? The bible speaks to moodiness! Consider Saul in 1 Samuel; David in Psalm 25, 31, 42, 77 and Elijah in 1 Kings 19. I was relieved when I discovered that moodiness did not elude these bible heroes. It reassured me that it’s not just a “girl thing,” or an “age thing.” It is a human thing. Before we discuss moodiness, let’s discuss another emotion, anger. Is anger, inherently wrong? No. Again, even Jesus got angry. Like the emotion of anger, I think the emotion of moodiness begs the question: what do we do with it? I might be thinking about this way too much, but as a person who has dealt with severe mood swings all my life, I want clarity. More importantly, I want to be a good steward with the “me” God calls his temple and dwells in! I have a clinical diagnosis of manic depression, namely, high-highs, low-lows. Does that mean I get a 2-for-1 voucher on being a jerk to people because of moods I can’t control? I don’t know. Something in me tells me that if I can be a good steward with my emotion of anger (i.e., I get angry at people but I don’t murder them) and my desire for sweets (i.e. I eat dessert but I don’t hoard it and make out with it) then with God’s spirit of self-control activated in my soul, I can be a good steward with my moods. I leave this post open for discussion. All thoughts welcome. Just don’t be mean.
Being “moody” is a biggy for me. Since I can remember I was told by loved ones and not so loved ones that I’m “strong willed”, “dramatic”, and/or “moody”. Those comments have always bothered me. Mostly, I thought that they were calling that out on me because they NEVER had those moments of moodiness, or when they did, it wasn’t as frequent or as intense as mine.
Thanks for this Heather. I don’t feel so alone and hopeless. God’s spirit of SELF-CONTROL = keyword. Got it! 😉
P.S. It has trickled down to my little one as well. Kind of freaked me out when I first started seeing the “signs”. I even struck my fist out to God and said “Why God?!, Why?!” LOL!
Being “moody” is a biggy for me. Since I can remember I was told by loved ones and not so loved ones that I’m “strong willed”, “dramatic”, and/or “moody”. Those comments have always bothered me. Mostly, I thought that they were calling that out on me because they NEVER had those moments of moodiness, or when they did, it wasn’t as frequent or as intense as mine.
Thanks for this Heather. I don’t feel so alone and hopeless. God’s spirit of SELF-CONTROL = keyword. Got it! 😉
P.S. It has trickled down to my little one as well. Kind of freaked me out when I first started seeing the “signs”. I even struck my fist out to God and said “Why God?!, Why?!” LOL!
This spoke to me today! Glad to have found you via twitter. I know I am to be a steward of ALL God has given me but the idea of stewarding my emotions…WOW! I can be a better steward. Holy Spirit empower us to be stewards of our emotions for God’s glory!
This spoke to me today! Glad to have found you via twitter. I know I am to be a steward of ALL God has given me but the idea of stewarding my emotions…WOW! I can be a better steward. Holy Spirit empower us to be stewards of our emotions for God’s glory!