Are You Living Inside-Out or Outside-In?

This is Day 16 of a 31 day series on Biblical kindness. You can find the rest of the posts here!

This morning was “one of those” mornings at our house.

I didn’t sleep well last night because of nagging shoulder pain which led me to not exactly waking up full of sunshine this morning.

My bad attitude quickly spread like wildfire and before the kids got on the bus at 7:05 we’d had multiple meltdowns.

Nora forgot to practice her spelling words and this week her spelling word was “wood” instead of “would” and

Blake decided to push his brother off the stool causing David to hurt his arm because David was “wasting too much water” brushing his teeth.

I kept dreaming of the “reset” button to start the morning over, and before I knew it they were out the door and on the bus.

I really hate mornings like this.  I worry all day that the morning ruined their entire day at school to almost always find out that the kids were fine and happy when they get home. (Thank you, Lord!)

Sometimes it’s easier to treat the grocery store clerk with more kindness than we do our own family.  That’s sad!

When we argue with a sharp tongue to our spouse in the parking lot but put on a smile and hug a friend in church what message are we sending and also living?

Do you live inside-out or outside in?

Let me explain.

When external things happen such as a sore shoulder, lack of sleep or someone pushes your buttons, how do you react?

Do you spend your time living inside-out where your values, virtues, and priorities guide your reactions or do you live outside-in where the environment determines how you feel, react, and respond?

This morning I was living outside-in.  This is easy to do.  You do what you want or what society does instead of living out God’s plans.

God wants us to intentionally live inside-out where our values guide our actions.  When we don’t live inside-out many times that leads to regret (as mine did this morning when my kids left for school after a yucky morning).  It’s far easier to spread kindness and live by the other virtues that are important to us when we live inside-out but in order to do so we must make decision to live with purpose.

Do you spend the majority of your time living inside-out or outside-in? 

To see the other posts in this series click here.

Have you enjoyed what you read here today? Do you have friends or other women you know that could benefit from this resource? If so, please do me a favor! I have included the links below to share with other intentional women! They’ll be glad you did!