An excellent spirit

There is an invaluable trait that many lack in today's society. It's easy to attain but pride and greed and everything selfish stands in the way. An excellent spirit can take a person to the greatest heights in life and in their spiritual journey.
Daniel the prophet is a great example of someone who maintained an excellent spirit regardless of their circumstances, as that should not matter anyways.
The book of Daniel gives us some extreme scenarios that Daniel faces yet he rises to the challenge every time.

But can you imagine being taken captive by an enemy of your country as a young person and taken to a strange land with new customs and a different language? How would you respond in such a scenario? Would you abandon God because he must have abandoned you for this to be happening? Would you beg for your enemies favour and give up your beliefs in order to appease the enemy?
Those would be viable responses as it would be the natural response to save yourself from punishment and torture.

However Daniel stood for his faith and kept living for God no matter the circumstances. He rejected the Kings meat (Daniel 1:8), found favour without compromising his beliefs (Daniel 1:9-10) and he praised and worshiped God no matter what (Daniel 2:20-23).
Daniel advanced under all the kings during his captivity, always holding great positions within those kingdoms. Even our enemies can recognize an excellent spirit; a hardworking and honest individual will always stand out.
God can give us an attitude that is quite remarkable in today's society. An attitude of gratitude, wisdom, knowledge, love, joy and diligence. In a time where everyone wants a quick fix and an easy way out, the hard worker who does not steal, cheat or lie to get ahead will be recognized.
God said in Proverbs 22:29 that the diligent will stand before great men and not before average people.

Having an excellent spirit should not only be hinged upon the desire to reach places of power but rather the main goal should be to honour God and serve him whole heartedly, the rest will follow. It does not apply only to the working world but most definitely to our personal lives. I will add this to my prayer list for sure as today I did not display an excellent spirit at all. After dropping my son off at school for the first day of third grade, the front wheel for my daughters stroller was acting up. There I was stranded in the middle of the school ground looking like my head was chopped off. I was popping wheelies with my daughters stroller to make it move as the front right wheel was stuck and was turning everywhere but where I wanted to go. I called my husband and accused him of bringing this stress upon me because he wanted to keep our 7 year old stroller instead of buying a fancy new one. After hanging up with him, I kept popping wheelies to move closer to my car. I decided to calm down, and approach the front wheel with a different demeanour. I realized the wheel was inverted and when I straightened it, it moved along easily. Like that wheel, I needed to straighten my attitude because that was such a minor issue yet it displaced my disposition so easily.

Daniel used prayer (Daniel 6:10), Gods word (Daniel 9:2) and godly friends (Daniel 1:17) around him to keep his excellent spirit and I must no doubt continue to strive to do the same in all areas of my life. The God we serve loves when we use our free will to please him, so let us have an excellent spirit to show the world just how excellent our God is.