Skip to main content

Steps

              You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. (Genesis 50:20)

 

            Frankly, I’m not sure this is the verse I should use. It’s probably bad hermeneutics, but there’s a topic I want to explore and I’m not sure what verse addresses it. Saturday night, I posted a WDA request on social media. As usual, this was because my attitude (the A) was detouring in a direction I knew wasn’t a good one. My boss had asked me to work Sunday afternoon. I can use the money, so I agreed. When I got home, I found that the blueberry bush cage I had built had been knocked down by the windstorm. It’s not a surprise, and it’s not really that big a deal. I’ll fix it.

            No, the problem was the nose-dive of my attitude, and it wasn’t just “Oh, I have to work” or “Oh, I have to rebuild the blueberry cage.” No, what I was trying to avoid a trip down the steps.

                Step one: “My day has been ruined” or, “My life is such a mess!”

                Step two: “What’s wrong with me?” or, “What is God trying to teach me?”

                Step three: “I’m a failure” or, “God is disappointed with me – again.”

                Step four: “This is my life…my destiny… misery forever…”

             Over the past 24 hours, one of my thoughts is that I need to learn to separate things that happen in my life into categories. Just because something happens that I don’t want to doesn’t mean that my day or my life is ruined. I can have a bad moment or mood without a bad day, year, or life.

            And, of course, we all know that, intellectually. But my attitude is where my fight begins and ends. I may know better, but I tend to tromp down a couple of the steps listed above - sometimes several – before I even notice I’m doing it again.

            Another ways we tend to harm ourselves with trips down steps involves the steps of “it’s not my fault” and “it’s all _______’s fault.” You might know of or use others. Knowing where your emotional feet tend to take you may help. So might keeping in mind that while you may do things that tend to harm you (whether you mean to or not), God still means them for good.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Higher Thoughts

  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the  Lord . “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)           The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments,   for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord      so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (I Corinthians 2:15-16) If you read about the ancient gods of the various peoples, you’ll find that they think just like people. In fact, they think just like the sort of people we really wouldn’t want to be around. They think like the most corrupt Hollywood producer or, like hormone overloaded teens with no upbringing.   It’s embarrassing to read. I have a friend who argues that because God is not just like us, He is so vastly dif...
2 comments
Read more

Think About These Things

                 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8) This passage is a major challenge for me. Like everyone else, I struggle to keep my thoughts from wandering off into the weeds, then wondering what possible benefits those weeds might have… Sigh. But as a writer, I have to delve at least a little into the ignoble, wrong, impure, unlovely, and debased. After all, there’s no story if everything’s just as it should be and everyone’s happy. As Christians, there are times when we need to deal with all the negatives, but that makes it even more important that we practice turning our minds by force of attention to what is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. It’s just too easy to get stuck in a swamp. With my...
1 comment
Read more

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more