Tuesday; May 14

Not long ago I was, once again, reminded that life isn’t fair.  The circumstances of the lesson aren’t as important as the lesson – bad things happen ... often to those who don’t deserve them.  As I thought about this truism, I was reminded of three important thoughts:
1.  We must not expect life to be fair.  Intellectually, we understand the inequity of living in a fallen world, but for some reason many of us tend to become derailed when we are forced to deal with unfairness.  I am not saying that we should become cynical about life, but what I am saying is that when bad things happens, we mustn’t allow them to deflate us.
2.  We must overcome the unfairness.  When life’s troubles and trials strike us, we don’t have to stand by and be victimized, nor should we just sit around complaining about how bad things are.  The best way to confront unfairness is to beat it by making the most of our circumstances (both good and bad). 
3.  We must believe that God cares about us.  When we feel that life has mistreated us we must remember that God isn’t picking on us.  When things don’t go our way, we mustn’t believe that God has abandoned us, in fact, that is when we can feel closest to Him.  When God commissioned His servant Joshua, He directed his attention to the law He had given to Moses, then said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous! Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9).
          Our job is not to understand why things happen.  We are tasked with making the most of our opportunities no matter what happens!
Think About It! 

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday; November 29

The biblical story of the Good Samaritan has changed our world. Notice I didn’t say that it had change religion or even Christianity, it has influenced the world. There are very few people who don’t know the moral of Jesus’ parable about the Good Samaritan. In fact, the phrase has become a common description of everyday people doing good to their neighbors. While Jesus’ parable from Luke 10 shares several spiritual lessons, one of the most practical is that good can be done by anyone. You don’t have to be a church official to do good, it is not only possible for each one of us to help, it is required of all of us. If a Samaritan can be good, so can we! After presenting the parable, Jesus asked the man who had originally asked the question about being a good neighbor which character in the story was a good neighbor, “… he said, ‘The one who showed mercy toward him.’” at which point, the discussion from theoretical to personal, “Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do the same.’” (Luke
Read more

Thursday; January 12

The other day I was watching a television show that used a rather common term applied to overcoming challenges. When organizations experience unexpected setbacks – especially when they lose key people – they rely upon the concept of “Next Man Up”. In essence, when our starters (or stars) go down, effective organizations rely upon their next levels to step into the vacancy. While this is an effective response, have we given much thought as to how we prepare to be the “next people up”? First, we must know our job. Even when we aren’t the primary players, we need to be preparing ourselves to be ready when we get the opportunity to shine. Second, we must do our best when we get the chance. Knowledge is important but what turns potential into talent is effort. Yet, maybe the most underappreciated aspect of this concept is a willingness avoid excuse-making and whining about the unfairness of our situation. When we complain about the circumstances that caused the need for replacements
Read more

Monday; September 25

When I was a youngster, I remember hearing about this thing called the Generation Gap. I was a little bit too young to be active in the social movements of the 1960s, but I do remember listening to the challenges the generations were experiencing way back then. Interestingly, now that I have been on both sides of the aging process, I have to admit that the Gap of the 1960s was nothing new. With the development of each generation comes conflict. The young people don’t feel like the older people understand them and the older folks tend to believe their input is being underappreciated. Too often trust is the casualty when two generations collide. The sad thing is that it doesn’t have to be this way. When we can capture the innovation and energy of the younger folks and harness the wisdom of those who have been around for a while we can develop a winning combination. No, we won’t always see things eye-to-eye nor will we necessarily speak the same emotional language, but when we app
Read more