Todd and I occasionally rent a movie on a Friday night; and one such night we sat down, hit ‘play’, – and eagerly awaited a great movie. NOT! Ten minutes into the movie – Guppy and Guppy gave it a dismal 2 fins down. We thought about just going to bed, but the couch was comfy and cozy and neither of us wanted to move, so we decided to stay there get our money’s worth and endure watching it.
Thank goodness God is merciful. One 30 second segment near the end of that movie made watching it worthwhile. The whole movie was about a rich family who hired someone to track down and “deal with” whoever kidnapped their child. The scene that woke me up, literally and spiritually, was where the bodyguard broke into an elderly couple’s apartment to stake out a meeting spot across the street. He assured the elderly couple that he was not there to hurt them – he was merely there to wait for someone to show up across the street. There the bodyguard stood, looking out the window, with a hand-held missile launcher perched on his shoulder ready to fire. After a while the little old woman said to him, “Judgement and revenge is best left for when we meet God.” To which the bodyguard quickly responded, “Yes, ma’am, I understand that. But I’m not here to be God or to judge him – I’m just here to arrange the meeting. And then he saw his target, pulled the trigger, and proceeded to arrange that meeting.
I sat on the couch in total shock at how that hit me so profoundly! Those two lines were an instant attitude adjustment for me! With a new perspective, I looked back over the past and pictured in my mind all the times my attitude was like that missile launcher perched on my shoulder aimed at something or someone. It made me realize that with my thoughts or words, I was out there unknowingly arranging meetings for people who wronged me or my child, - to meet with God! The little service coordinator lady I was a bit rude to on the phone; the insurance claims clerk I was getting impatient with because she kept transferring me all over creation; the people sitting across from me at the ARD that I was getting irritated with, because they acted like they knew better than me, what is best for my child; the truck driver poking along in front of me making me late to wherever I was going, and on and on and on.
We all have scenarios like that, there will always be difficult people and bad situations or circumstances. We can’t stop that. But we can stop how we react inwardly and outwardly to them. When we as Christians take it upon ourselves to go around with our attitudes pointed and ready to fire, we steal not only our own joy, but the joy of others around us! Raise your hand if you’ve targeted your spouse or children a time or two! What kind of witness to others are we if we treat those the worse, who we love the most or who need Christ the most? We will live a much more joyful life if we rid ourselves of the burden of carrying that attitude launcher, or any other burden that we have, hefted on our shoulder, – and instead give it all to God.
One verse that has popped in my mind ever since that movie – when things happen to cause that attitude or emotion to fire up – is in Psalms 46:10 … “Be still, and know that I am God…” When I feel my attitude-o-meter start to rise - I now recite that verse over and over…refusing to let that person or situation steal my joy.
Be still. Let God handle those situations we cannot. Our job is to be joyful and win people for the Kingdom, -- not send them to the Kingdom. And I as much as anyone know how daunting a task that is – but it’s a challenge we must take on!
Refuse to let people, situations, or circumstances, steal your joy….
Written by Michelle M. Guppy
...and just so you know that I am human, I still fail miserably at this many times.
1 comments:
Many thanks.
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