Tuesday, March 30, 2010

What happened to you?

What happened to you that you think the way that you do? Were you hurt by your parents growing up? Were you taken advantage of, as a teenager?

What happened to me, that makes me think the way that I do? Was I hurt in the past? Did I face deep loneliness? Is there something that just won't line up for me in my life? Do these themes color the way that I look at the world?

Do I resist others ideas because of my own insecurities? Do I feel or express disgust for those who see the world differently than I do? Do I wish for a better world, but feel totally powerless to find it?

Friends, usually when we are at odds with another, it is because we are seeing the world so differently. I don't think that there are good folks, and bad folks, we just see the world differently.

Would our opinion of that other person change if we took a few moments to walk in their shoes?
Do we even have any idea where their shoes have been? Maybe if we stop measuring everything by how it affects me, we might understand more clearly the perspective of others.

It is hard to see the splinter with this board in my eye.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Wow. There are so many comments that affect who I am yet have nothing to do with who I really am. I think that this is worse for girls (because I am one). It makes me really sensitive to messages my girls receive. And they are VERY young. I am amazed at how young the messages start. It starts with their exposure outside the home. Be it preschool or kindergarten. And yet I can remember messages sent to me by friends, enemies and family members that resonate decades later. How do I teach them to deal when I'm still figuring that out?