It is easy to look around you and see the obvious. Careless words tossed into the wrong situation can destroy relationships. Casual behavior towards a person in severe stress or in pain can easily amplify the difficulty the person already faces. Deception when one is in theory a friend on or the same side is a virus without cure.
Wisdom’s analysis is blunt. “People who shrug off deliberate deceptions, saying, “I didn’t mean it, I was only joking,” are worse than careless campers who walk away from smoldering campfires.” (Proverbs 26.18, 19)
And yet seeing the obvious is merely a step in life’s journey. What difference does knowing this have on your mission or mine? What impact should this knowledge cause as we formulate our next response? Is this a signal of something, anything?
As I struggle with those around me that could be considered dysfunctional, or at the very least not helpful, I find myself realizing that my knowledge has served in the past to distract me from what I was created and long to do – worship God. This is not to suggest that having this knowledge isn’t important, it is! The key lies in what I do with it.
Let me suggest the following as you or I realize just how human people are around us.
First, we are just as human in our own way.
Second, we stand equal before God and therefore equal before each other.
Third, each thirsts at their core for something that is embedded in our soul – acceptance, love, and belonging.
Regardless of their behavior the question you and I consistently face is what we will do in the present. Do we give away what God offers freely to us – grace, mercy, compassion, love, and unconditional acceptance? Or do we battle it out to see who wins? The question does not go away simply because someone is rude, cheats, or lies!
I realize today that there are unique opportunities to make a difference. Bad things are coming towards you and me, guaranteed. Welcome to life and windows of difference.
