WEEK #1
The longer I live as a believer, the more I realize my Christian life is full of holes. I’m Swiss Cheese, when I should be a block of Cheddar. This is especially evident when I am tired. With Bill’s illness I exist continually exhausted. One evidence of this is how easily I become offended.
LIVING LIKE THIS STEALS ENERGY
My emotions run into a sprint when people ignore our situation or say clueless remarks. What about when someone zooms first into the parking space closer to the clinic doors and my husband can barely walk from the car? Yes, I ratchet up the offense meter awfully fast. Living like this steals a lot of energy.
GENUSES AT OBSERVING OTHERS
I asked God for help. That’s when I came across the book “Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better” by Brant Hansen. Brant writes: “We want to think people are worse than us. It’s one of our favorite pastimes. Go to a mall food court, sit down, and listen to the conversations around you. Compare how often people are telling stories about hurtful, wrong things other people did, versus confessing hurtful, wrong things they, themselves, have done. We’re brilliant at this. Geniuses, really.”
HOMEWORK WEEK #1
Homework for Week #1: Daily, note the negative things you hear people say about one another and the negative things which spew out of your own mouth. Take a notebook and write down ten positive things each day you have notice about that day and confess to God the toxins you contributed to the sound waves around you. Let me know your observations.
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Philippians 4:8)
