Mirrors, Mood Rings, and Airplanes

Here’s a question I’m sure you are asking. What possible connection is there between mirrors, mood rings and airplanes? Here's my best answer. All three of them give you feedback...about your attitude!

I love it when God works on one particular area of your life. You know, that two day intensive reminder course in (fill in the blank). My blank this past week was my “attitude” and it wasn’t a good one. You know.. it's when your spouse notices it, your kids notice it, your friends notice it, the guy who cut you off on the freeway noticed it, everyone noticed it...except you. It wasn’t until I had feedback from the following three things that I realized mine was going downhill if not already at the bottom. Consider the mirror, the mood ring and the airplane.

The Mirror - This morning the person in the mirror, who was staring back it me, had a bad attitude. I could see it all over the face. Mirrors are like that. You get immediate feedback on what you really look like, especially with your facial expressions. The mirror doesn’t lie. If you smile, it smiles back, if you frown, it frowns back. You can tell a lot about your attitude by looking in the mirror. How do you look today?

Mood Rings - I was looking through a box of old stuff the other day. I say old because in the box there was a phone “cord” a cassette tape and a mood ring! Mood rings were originally created with the clever but never proven assumption that your body temperature would change based on the mood or attitude you were in at the time. The mood ring was supposed to act as a sort of fashion thermometer. If you were upset or mad the mood ring would change to red. If you were calm and cool the mood ring would change to blue or green. What color is your mood ring today?

Airplanes - Next time you board an airplane take a look into the flight deck. You will see, right there in the middle of the instrument panel, a gauge that’s appropriately called the Attitude Indicator. This instrument is responsible for giving the pilot feedback about the planes attitude. Yes, planes have attitude. The attitude of a plane shows the relationship of the nose of the airplane to the horizon. If the nose of the airplane is above the horizon the pilot would call that a nose up attitude which, as it turns out, is a great attitude to have if you’re a plane (and a person). If the nose of the aircraft is below the horizon pilots would call that a nose down attitude which, as it turns out, is not a good attitude to have. Either way, the attitude indicator gives feedback about how the aircraft is performing. A nose up or nose down attitude. Do you have a nose up attitude today?

So, there you have it. Mirrors, Mood Rings and Airplanes. Three ways to get feedback about your attitude. I hope you’re smiling, green and nose up this week.