Ponder with Me

It is Wednesday.  

And, I'm in one of those pondering moods that often envelop me.

The Lord will give me a thought, and it is my job to tumble it around in my head until I understand what He has for me. 

(An aside: I always wanted one of those rock-polishing tumbler toys.  I marked it every year in the Sear's- or Penney's- Christmas catalog.  I never got one.  Someone really should talk to my parents.)

The past few weeks have seen many hurt feelings in my world.  Some I caused.  Some were my feelings.  My kids, my friends, my spouse, my students.  No one seems to be immune to hurt feelings.  I feel like my life has been consumed with helping hurting people.

Yesterday, the Lord gave me a thought.  It's the tumble thought, for sure.

What if you stopped worrying about not doing anything wrong and started focusing on doing it right.

Huh.  Ouch.

It made me think about how many times I let other people hurt because "I didn't do anything wrong." How often could we make a situation better if we step beyond that self-centered notion?  If we went to the other person and made the situation right because we knew the other person was hurting?

We think that it's not our fault that the other person got their feelings hurt.  I didn't do anything to them.  But, did I have the courtesy of thought and relationship to approach them because I was sensitive to the fact that they might be hurt?

Do I stand up for life's underdog- even if it's at the cost of my fun or my family or my me time?Would I be wrong for not doing it?  No.  Of course not, but how much would be gained if I my goal was what was right instead of not being wrong?

I am not even sure I am making sense.  I'm definitely still tumbling the thought around my head.  But, I can already tell my vision is changing.  Looking through the eyes of doing right by people instead of not being wrong is altering my perspective.  And stepping on my toes.

We'll three-thing tomorrow!

L