Think About It

What can we do today to make this day better for someone? This may sound like some pop-psychology, but if we stop and think about it, each one of us has been given a day full of possibilities – we can either use them to annoy people our uplift them. Interestingly, it won’t be the circumstances that will make the difference, it will be how we handle them. So, back to the original question – what can we do today to make someone’s day better? Here are a few suggestions: 1. When we find that someone has made a mistake that negatively impacts us, we can choose to forgive them with a smile rather than condemn them with an angry word. 2. When someone cuts in front of us in line, rather than snarl at them, engage them in a pleasant conversation. Remember you would have never met them if they hadn’t jumped in front of you in line. 3. When someone expresses an opinion that is contrary to ours, let’s listen intently to their logic. Even if we don’t end up agreeing with them, we will lear...

Have you ever thought about what percentage of our beliefs set us at odds with others? One of the blessings of living when and where we do is the ability to hold on to our own beliefs. For the most part, we get to decide what we choose as the foundation of how we live. While this might seem like a formula for libertine anarchy and dissention, if we were to take a test of our principles, I would imagine we would agree on a lot of things. So, why is it that we find ourselves in conflict with so many people? I believe the answer is that we spend too much time focusing on the areas where we don’t agree. Let’s say that we see eye to eye with 90% of the principles of the rest of our friends and neighbors; why is it we are so adversarial on the other 10%? The next time we find ourselves about to go toe to toe with someone, let’s step back, take a deep breath and see if we can’t find some common ground upon which to establish our foundational relationship. When we take the effort to bu...

Now that Punxsutawney Phil has guaranteed us a short winter, I have put away all of the coats, pulled out my shorts and sandals and put in a big order of sun screen from my favorite online shopping outlet. Winter is over and spring is upon us – guaranteed! You might have noted a big dose of sarcasm in the previous paragraph. Folks, I struggle to believe some of the college-educated prognosticators, there is no way I am going to get my weather forecast from a rodent! The reason I bring this up is I wonder how many of us who would never take Phil seriously are willing to take advice from people who are just about as qualified as him. Do we get our morals from entertainers? Do we take advice from people who are merely famous for being famous? Do we set our goals based upon people who are more interested in getting our money (or our votes) than in helping us discover what is best for us? Maybe the most troubling of all is getting spiritual advice from someone whose morals lack virtu...

The three young rock stars were riding a wave of popularity. Charles Hardin Holly, was 22 years old, Richard Steven Valenzuela was 17 years old and J. P. Richardson was 28 when their plane left Clear Lake, Iowa in the early morning hours of February 3, 1959. None of them would live to see another birthday. On the day the music died; Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and The Big Bopper went from having a lifetime filled with potential to the rock and roll history books when their plane crashed in an Iowa cornfield. In a sense, their “careers” have continued as their music has lasted through the ages, but their lives stopped right then and there. Whether it was fair or not, their lives ended way too early. I believe we comfort ourselves by thinking that we have a lot of time left ahead of us, but we need to remember that no one is guaranteed another day much less a long life. The Bible reminds us, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a y...

When you are looking for someone with whom you can develop a partnership, what do you consider? When we are looking to join forces to accomplish a task, we might seek out people who have similar talents. When we are looking for a long-term romantic relationship we might find someone who makes us feel special. When we are starting a business, we might search out someone who has a skill that complements ours. Now, while all these can help us find success, I think there is something else that will help us create successful, lasting partnerships – a shared value system. Common likes and abilities might draw us together, but common values take our relationship to a higher level – and will help us stay together during the inevitable struggles that will follow. While this make good sense when it comes to just about any kind of relationship, Paul warned Christians to be mindful of our basic values when we consider partnerships with those whose values don’t match ours. The apostle wrote, ...

Are we too willing to accept a low standard? It seems like that, to be satisfied, we have convinced ourselves that we have to reduce our expectations. Whether it is to fill our ranks at the office or advance some of our children through the educational system, we have decided to be okay with “OK”. Rather than expecting people grow and develop it has become easier to just accept what they claim is the best they can be. Instead of requiring people to elevate what they can do, we accept whatever they have done. I understand that each individual should be evaluated on their own capabilities, but when we fail to encourage exceptional work, we are going to end up having to live with substandard results. When we are willing to lower the standard, we are going to have to learn to live with a subpar product. I realize it is easier to just go along with the flow, but if we ever hope to raise the bar in our society we are going to have be okay with saying, “No, this isn’t good enough.”. Th...

The Bible is pretty straightforward when it comes to forgiveness. Jesus was quoted as saying, “For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.” (Matthew 6:14-15). Now, while it is quite clear that we have a responsibility to forgive people, I also believe that some violations of trust justify a cautious approach to restoration of certain relationships. If someone errs and lets us down, that doesn’t mean that they automatically deserve to be restored to their pre-sin position. Using caution might not only be natural, it might even display a sense of wisdom. I wonder what Jesus would have done had Judas asked for His forgiveness. I firmly believe He would have granted forgiveness, but would Judas still have been a trusted member of the inner circle or even retained his position of treasurer? We’ll never know the answer to that rhetorical questio...