If Mama Ain’t Happy, Ain’t Nobody Happy, Part One
A Three Part Blog About Attitude by Katie Hawkins
Have you ever heard of MOPS? Notice the all caps so I’m obviously not talking about what you
scrub floors with. It stands for Mothers of Preschoolers and it’s a worldwide organization with
small chapters everywhere. When I was asked to speak at several local groups, I googled their
theme for the year and Loved it! Say yes…is the overall theme. (at first I was worried it meant
say yes to everything like that Jim Carrey movie and that’s disastrous) They did not mean that.
It’s a theme that looks seriously at what it means to say yes to God. The three tenants are say
yes to God by embracing the uncomfortable, by delighting in the small things, and by being
here now. I touched on each one with the young moms and then realized what great, inspiring
tenants they are for all of us. So, in a condensed form,(one tenant per blog) I’ll tell you all what
I told those mama’s and took to heart for myself.
Part 1. Be Thankful
We wish each other happy new year and others wish it for us. We mean it! Who doesn’t want
to be happier in 2024 than they were in 2023. And it’s not selfish, I believe it’s a God given
desire. The old adage ‘if mama aint happy, aint nobody happy’ rings true in that we often set
the emotional tone in our households. We teach our kids much more through how we react to
situations beyond our control then we do through lectures on how they should react. If we
want a happier new year…and model emotional health for our kids….there is one thing that we
can control and it is our attitude. It is our decision to take God seriously when He clearly states
in 1 Thessalonians 5:18:
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
The human brain is not wired to hold two completely opposing thoughts at the same
time so if we are thinking grateful thoughts we can’t be complaining. If we are
worshipping God, we can’t at the same time be whining about things not going our way.
Hence, the first tenant. Say yes to God by embracing the uncomfortable. Thank Him in
all things. Not necessarily for all things but in all things. The apostle James writes,
”consider it all joy when you encounter various trials knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance and let endurance have it’s perfect result that you might be
mature, lacking in nothing”. (James 1:2-3)
A beautiful example of this is in the attitude of an eight year old girl named Fanny
Crosby. Some of you may recognize the prolific hymn writers name. She wrote more
than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs with more than 100 million copies printed. But had
she not embraced the uncomfortable…and I’m guessing took her cues from her mom’s
attitude, would she have accomplished what God set out for her to do? As a baby,
Fanny had something wrong with her eyes and the treatment the doctor gave her
instead of helping her, caused her to be permanently blind. There’s no record of the
mom suing the doctor, railing against God for the unfairness, or any of the family
descending into depression. Instead, here’s a poem Fanny wrote when she was 8
years old:
Oh what a happy child I am although I cannot see
I am resolved that in this world contented I will be
how many blessings I enjoy that other people don’t
so weep or sigh because I’m blind I cannot nor I won’t
Fanny resolved to be content. She would later say her blindness was a gift from God as it
caused her to be able to memorize long passages of scripture, worship God without
distraction, write her poetry from a concentrated mind.
If an eight year old can resolve to thank God in all things, to say yes to God by fully
embracing the uncomfortable in life, I think I can too. How about you? I want to radiate
the love and joy of Christ as a mama, a grandma, a wife, a neighbor and the one thing
I’ve resolved to do this year is ‘be thankful’.
