Happy Friday Friends!
I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as a glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama! Additionally, I sincerely hope you have all have had a great week - personally and professionally! One more day, one more opportunity, to encourage, empower and equip others to become the best they are capable of becoming! I can't wait for THIS day! :)
This morning I want to share an excerpt from Happily: 8 Commitments of Couples Who Laugh, Love & Last by Kevin A. Thompson. The excerpt I am going to share is from Commitment 7: Happily Make Peace. The excerpt is a little bit longer as, well, I could not possibly say it better than Pastor Thompson does! :) At the end I will then share a few thoughts of my own.
The excerpt I am sharing is found on pages 156 - 157 and is in a section that Pastor Thompson titled Stones and Seeds.
"We live in a stone-throwing world. It's a world where everyone holds a stone; we throw first and ask questions later. Stones hurt. They damage to an extent that is difficult to repair. They don't discriminate - they will injure whoever is in their way.
The great danger of living in a world full of stones is it forces us to always be on the lookout. At any moment and from any direction, stones can come flying at us. In order to stay safe, we have to watch out for them.
Of course, as we look for stones, we see them. We often see what we expect to see. Psychologists call it confirmation bias. We seek, interpret, and remember information that confirms our thoughts more than information that changes our thoughts. This is why a political ally and a political enemy can do the same thing and we forgive the ally but revile the enemy. While we believe we look at others neutrally, we see everyone through the lens of a bias. It's why most political debates do not change minds as much as they confirm them. When we are biased toward expecting stones, we will see stones.
The opposite metaphor of a stone is a seed. In James, the writer uses a seed as an illustration for peace: "And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness" (3:18 NLT).
On its own, a seed is not very much. It is easily forgotten or overlooked. The power of the seed is in what it can become. With time, care, and the right conditions, a seed can become something very meaningful.
Peace is like a seed. It starts small and seems worthless, but over time it can grow into a harvest.
There are two options - a stone or a seed. Which do you choose? Are you throwing stones or planting seeds? Do you more often reach for the stone to protest yourself or your reputation, to make your point, to defend your side? Or do you more often plant seeds to build connection, to reassure of your love, to bring peace, to deflate the discussion?"
Pretty powerful stuff! I want to share a few thoughts...
1. "We often see whatever we expect to see." What do we expect? Are we filled with hope or despair? Do we expect to see the good or the bad in another? If what we expect is what we see doesn't it also stand to reason that if something happens that we did not expect to see, we are less likely to see it? Expecting and looking for the brokenness, the fault, the failure in another is so easy, perhaps the lazy way out. We live in a fallen, broken world and therefore, we are all broken, we all have faults and we all have failures. However, if you believe in the Bible as I do, we know that everyone is fearfully and wonderfully made, created on purpose for a great purpose, lacking nothings. So what happens if we expect to see that? The fearfully and wonderfully made person, the person with a great purpose, the one who lacks nothing. We see what we expect to see...
2. "The power of the seed is in what it can become." In our instant gratification, got have it right now society, this is tough. We are not very fond of waiting more than 8 seconds - that is what research tells us is the current attention span of most - so the concept of planting something in the dirt - there is a great metaphor there about the messes of life - taking care of it, watering and nurturing it, protecting it and waiting for it to grow, well, it took me longer than 8 seconds to just type it! :) I guess with this one, I simply want to offer encouragement. As Robert Louis Stevenson so accurately stated, "Don't judge each day by the harvest your reap but by the seeds that you plant." Let's be planters of positive, encouraging thoughts, words, and deeds! It is a choice and in this stone throwing world we are going to have to be very intentional about it. Please be encouraged Friends! Please remember the promise of Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
3. So, what choice will we make, the seeds or the stones? I want to challenge all of us to build connection, to reassure of our love - this is intentional, and it is action...it is not feelings and it is not words! - to bring peace, and, as conversations get heated, deflate the discussion. Different? Absolutely! Some will laugh, mock and think we have lost our minds. Please don't worry about them, they are tending their gardens and we are tending ours! Hard? Yes! But please remember the greatest rewards come from the hardest climbs!
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious family!
Kev
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