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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.

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