Let’s face it we all get discouraged from time to time!
Some of us sit in this seat rarely and some sit in this seat as if we are held captive by this unbecoming foe. The fact is none of us like it and yet all of us experience it. It comes in waves, waves like the sea… sometime crashing our party of joy and happiness without a moments notice! It’s hits us like and unexpected ginormous wave that tosses us until we feel out of equilibrium and unbalanced in thinking.
If you consider discouragement… most of it is a mind-set and not necessarily an experience itself. Sure, the experience is what can catapult us into discouragement, but it is not the experience itself that causes discouragement. How we perceive or think about an experience is what brings discouragement.
Have you ever met someone who always seems to have the most positive outlook ever and never seems to experience discouragement? I am sure, we all have. But I dare to say that person has never had uncomfortable situations or events happen in their life. Rather and even possible, they may have more than most… but it’s what they do with the experience that makes the difference!
So here I sit this morning in the seat of discouragement. With thoughts whirling around my brain as if wind patterns cannot seem to decide which direction to blow. It came out of no where and seemed to billow in my mind in a matter of seconds before the puffy clouds appeared.
One sentence from my husband and Bam… ladies and gentlemen, we have a storm!
Really, that’s all it took… one unprepared sentence on his part and my brain got swept away??? Yes, it happens that fast! Just like any storm, you can get caught in it super fast and really not know which way to get out. So after his ONE sentence that blew through my mind like a wrecking ball… I sit here doing my best to navigate this mind-blowing event. All sorts of thoughts pound away like the force of hail hitting randomly with the power to damage not only my thinking, but to also bend my behavior as unbecoming!
If I am not careful, that “one sentence” can become a story it was never meant to be!
That “one sentence” that slipped out of unprepared lips, can create a hail storm that leaves the most destructive mess behind for me to clean up.
– Or –
That one sentence can become an opportunity to look inward to discover why??? Why, that “one sentence” struck me with such lightning force?
Perspective… it’s all about perspective!
The lips that uttered the words may have had an entirely different perspective than the ears that heard them. Could it really be that simple? Yep, usually it is… so the circumstances we find ourselves in, are not necessarily easy to depict the picture of truth. To find truth takes an extra special keenness and awareness to our own thought process in any situation that arises.
If we are not careful with that “one sentence” and how we perceive it, we ourselves can create a storm of hurricane stature which begins with… only ONE thought!
For me, with my stubborn streak. That one thought… if not anchored, can lead to a defiant, discouraged, disaster! Yep… it leads me to put up walls and to stubbornly storm away in defense with an attitude that says, “fine!” And a behavior that passively, but aggressively resists! Resists anyone or anything that is gonna make me feel how I allowed myself to feel with my unrestrained thoughts.
Words and thoughts go together like spaghetti and meat balls or peanut butter and jelly to make for a delicious experience. But, they also can go together like pickles and whipped cream, a combination most of us would never choose to eat together unless we are in that place of hormonal explosion while being pregnant. (I don’t know about you, but I certainly would not want to live perpetually pregnant nor would I favor pickles and whipped cream for a positive experience).
So what’s a girl to do when the unprepared sentence slips from the lips of her well-meaning man?
What’s a girl to do when his words taste like a bitter/sweet combination?
What’s a girl to do when his sentence structure sets off alarms in her meteorologist mind, warning a storm is upon her?!?
Stop! Take a breath!
Ask yourself… “did he really mean that… Pickles and whipped cream? Or was he trying to serve me PB&J?
It’s quite possible and most probable he had no intention to create the storm I am dealing with now. I can almost be certain, he spoke before he thought which caused me to react before I thought, and that is why my mind-storm is raging! So it’s rather simple… as it’s been said before, “It takes two to Tango.” The solution which is so easy, can allow us to dance in the rain without steeping on each other’s toes! So here it is, the mind-blowing, simplistic solution to keep away unnecessary, turbulent and destructive storms.
Stop, long enough to think, before we speak!
~ and ~
Stop, long enough to think, before we react!
If both parties would practice such a simple solution, I believe many of us would see a lot more sunny days forecast for our future!
Philippians 4:8 ~ “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.” (New Living Translation (NLT)
