E-Mail Devotional for the week of

January 22, 2011 – See the innocence in people!

 

Isaiah 3:10    – Tell the innocent how fortunate they are, for they shall eat the fruit of their labors.

 

One of the most frustrating aspects of life is not being able to understand other people's behavior. It is tempting to put ourselves into their irrational behavior, to focus our whole life on them … their comments, their actions, their mean-spirited acts, their selfish behavior. If we focus on their behavior too much, it can seem like these other people are making us miserable. As someone recently told me, "Paranoia breeds paranoia!" 

 

One of the keys to living a more enjoyable life is to be less bothered by the actions of other people. The best strategy for dealing with someone acting in a way that we don't like, is to distance ourselves from their behavior, and then to look beyond it to see the innocence in where that behavior is coming from. 

 

For example, when someone that you work with is pressuring you to hurry up, even if they are using obnoxious, insulting comments, try to focus neither on the words they are using nor the tone in their voices, but focus instead on the urgency of their plea. Remember your own urgency when you are in a hurry to get something done. It will allow you to see and sense the innocence in their behavior, and actions or words that frustrated you before will not frustrate you any more, and then you will be able to focus on the beauty of life. 

 

Dear God, help me see the innocence in other people. Help me to see the innocence in other people and accept them as they are. Amen.

 

Pastor Groe