How Can I Expect It Of Them?

A few mornings ago I woke up in just a plain rotten mood. I felt like crawling back into bed and staying there for awhile longer. I don't feel this way very often. I could blame it on a rotten sleep, a pregnant body, being a mom of 10..... And then to top it all off my wonderful hubby asked me to something I really didn't want to do. And my rotten mood, turned into a rotten attitude and poisoned those around me. So I wallowed in it for a bit. And then the verse came to my mind that I have recited to my children over and over. Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice. And then it hit me. If this were one of our kids having this kind of a rotten attitude, I would have expected them to think of this verse, instantly put a smile on their face and continue their day cheerfully. Well, it's easy to tell someone else to do it, Not so easy to tell yourself. And I struggled. Struggled to get control of my emotions, struggled to rejoice, struggled to stop the poison from affecting others in my family. But today it was a success story. I was able to choose to focus on the fact that God is God despite my circumstances. But it isn't always this way. Too many times I let the circumstances of the day get me down. God didn't ask us to rejoice only when things were peachy, no, He said rejoice in the Lord always. ALWAYS. He could have just said rejoice in the Lord, but He added always. No matter what goes on around me, no matter how horrible I feel, no matter the oppositions I feel, no matter how my kids are behaving, no matter............ REJOICE ALWAYS :)