Attitude and Life Lessons

If you have ever been in band, sang on stage, or led worship, you know that talent and skill are important.  If the band is not proficient on their instruments, or the singers can’t find pitch with a GPS, then everything goes downhill from there.  Skill is crucial to leading worship. If the band or the singers are distracting, then worship rarely happens. You end up with just music that isn’t played very well. As important as talent, skill, and competence are for a worship band or a band of any kind, there is something that I believe outweighs them all… Attitude.

I would rather have a good musician with a great attitude than a great musician with a bad attitude.

Attitudes can make or break a band. I have seen the poor attitude of a background vocalist affect the entire band.  Bad attitudes spread faster than the swine flu.  And like the flu it has negative symptoms that can be devastating if not kept in check.

If you are the leader of the band, you are responsible for your team. But more importantly you are responsible for your attitude. No matter how bad your week has been, your attitude should not suffer. Let me say this another way, there is no excuse for a bad attitude!   If your attitude suffers then the band, the music, and more importantly, the worship service suffers.

Attitude is a choice. You have a choice to make every morning.  You cannot chose what happens to you but you can chose how you react to it and your attitude about it.

I received a life lesson in attitude a few years ago.  In college I became very close to a family with four brothers. The oldest two and I went to school together and served on a church staff together. I would spend holidays with them traveling to their home in central Florida. That is where I met their younger brother, Jordan. All the brothers played basketball and all were very talented. But Jordan had a quiet confidence and it seemed like no matter what happened he was smiling.  He didn’t have to say much, but his attitude about life and basketball was infectious.

Jordan received a scholarship to play basketball. Shortly after getting to college he discovered he had cancer. Because of the cancer he had to give up basketball, something he loved. I remember thinking as I was getting ready to go down to be in his brother’s wedding, “Jordan is going to be a wreck.”  I prepared myself for the worst.  But I was wrong. Jordan was still smiling, still cracking jokes; he still had the same great attitude.  He made a choice to not let his circumstances determine his attitude. If anyone had an excuse to be bitter, to have a bad attitude, it was him. Whether he realized it or not Jordan was a great teacher that day. Even today, when I find myself having a bad attitude or looking to justify it with my circumstances…I am reminded of the life lesson Jordan taught me that day at the wedding.

Your attitude is a decision. Make the wise choice and lead your people to do the same.