When it comes to “life”, we ALL have a scoreboard, don’t we? The scoreboard is where you tallying up “life” and you don’t feel like you are where you should be or “life” isn’t turning out the way you thought it would.  Sure, my scoreboard may look different than yours, but because of our individual scoreboards, some of us may develop resentment over the slightest things. 

You may look at me and say, “Why are you so angry about that?” But, even though my life may look good to you, in my mind my scoreboard is a zero, and my husband, friend, or person on social media are a ten.  They are winning and I feel like I am losing. 

Resentment is the feeling of anger or displeasure about someone or something unfair.  Unfair? I can name lots of things in life that I think is unfair, especially in a mom’s world.  Some examples could be...a husband’s travel schedule, infertility, children with special needs, people who make more money than you, when your child doesn’t get chosen for the travel team or your daughter is not selected for the solo in the school play.  We could keep going but I think you get the point.

How do you handle a resentful spirit? There is a key scripture, from Psalm 37:3-4:

            "Trust in the Lord and do good;

            Dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.

            Take delight in the Lord,

            And He will give you the desires of your heart." 

There is a formula here:

Trust + Dwell + Cultivate = Rested Spirit

Trust in the Lord. Dwell in the land. Cultivate faithfulness, which means to do the next right thing.

Trust is the foundation of a rested spirit.  Trust is what changes a resentful spirit to a restful spirit.  Trust isn’t easy, but I have learned that God sees a different picture than me.  If we could see how God sees, we would trust because then we would see the whole picture. 

There are two choices in life, we can hold onto resentment or rest in the fact that God can be trusted.  We can trust that God works all things for good for those that love him.  (Romans 8:28) Living a resentful, bitter life is no way to live.  A restful spirit is a better choice. Choose rest today.