Tonight, I was thinking about some things going on at work and I got kind of sad because, let’s be honest, sometimes the work place can bring a little drama with it. It kind of has to do with people being upset with each other and thinking the worst about each other, and it just got me down.
People being upset with each other is nothing new. It’s been happening since the dawn of time. Well, almost the dawn. Let’s just say it all went awry in a little garden called Eden. Adam and Eve yea, you’ve heard of them - how they blamed each other for their sad, sad tale and the sad, sad state they found themselves in. But, hey, let’s face it, their story is our story. We blame each other. We pick at each other. We tear each other down, rather than building each other up. And it doesn’t just happen in the workplace, it happens everywhere. It plays out on our television sets every night on the evening news. It happens in our backyards, in our homes, in every part of our lives there’s the potential for strife and division. It’s very much so a reality of the America we live in these days, isn’t it? All of this got me to thinking about myself - how I act when situations arise that are a little unpleasant, uncomfortable, when someone makes me upset or does something I don’t like. And I realized something, when those moments come, I can either become part of the problem or I can become part of the solution. Part of the problem. The problem is we choose to see the worst in each other instead of the best, we pick at each other and pretend like we have it all together when in reality we’re as much a mess as the person we judge so severely. We like to see ourselves as better, but if you take a moment and think about it, are you really any better? Jesus warned about our hypocrisy in Matthew 7. 3 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4 How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. So how do you stop being part of the problem and become part of the solution? Take some time. Do some soul searching. Ask God to show you if your heart is right with him. If it’s not, get before him and start fixing things. That’s how you become part of the solution. You start with you. You first. Always. Then, you reach out and remember that God loves your neighbor as much as he loves you. He died for them, too. No matter how much they annoy, frustrate, ignite the deepest, darkest feelings within you, he died for them. He loves them. So should you. I don’t know about you but there’s enough strife and division in my world already. I’d rather not add to it. I want to be part of the solution. I want to start making things better. After all, as God’s children isn’t that what we’re called to do, make things better? I hope you want the same for yourself. Love. Love. Love. It can’t get any better than that. A love that is pure and simple and true. That’s how you can start becoming part of the solution. Love always. Love first. |