Considering Admiration!

Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler. Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest. Proverbs 6:5-8 NIV

We often choose people we set on a pedestal--those we greatly admire and then when their imperfections and flaws are exposed, we get angry and sometimes, we rebel by interjecting venom that poisons us and all around us.

Not all of us can be right at the same time in the same place, but we can be righteous in all we do. If we only do what is right--at all times--we never have to consider what happens if we do something wrong because we won't. Sound complicated? We live complex lives and throughout our journey, we make decisions based upon the information and experiences we have at hand. If our experiences and our information is limited, our views may seem a bit short-sighted, but when we broaden our experiences and gain greater access to information, the likelihood that our views will change are incredible.

For instance, when we were in kindergarten and learned all we needed to know about life--the experience was limited and the information provided was at a level that our undeveloped minds could handle. We thought recess was the greatest part of the day and for some, it was the storytelling hour.  
Every person in the class came away with different perceptions of what kindergarten was about, but we learned: to share, wait our turns, be respectful, and to move to the right when traveling--walking down a hall or driving. And many of us learned to be considerate and most of us--had a great deal of admiration for  our teacher. Unless the teacher did something really wrong--we admired them and remembered.

As we navigated middle school and high school and college--we discovered there was so much more to learning and being in a classroom that we began to think (and not just swallow everything told to us) and eventually--our views about things we learned in kindergarten changed. It's called--maturing--and it's a part of life that most of us enjoy.

But then there are those who--though past the age of 50--still act like they are still in kindergarten. The saddest part of all is there are people who admire--the kindergarten mentality which makes one wonder--if the admirer--ever matured. And it is these people who concern me and how they evaluate admirable qualities in a person.

So, when we express admiration for a person or an ideology--perhaps we should consider the source of our admiration and evaluate our own maturity if we admire others who are immature and act as though they are still in kindergarten.

The ant--a tiny creature with a tiny brain, but obviously smarter than those of us with a larger capacity to think, evaluate, and assess and we don't. What exactly is there to admire about a non-thinking person? Absolutely nothing--unless we happen to be an ant. Let's choose to admire Jesus and become more like Him!

Loving Regardless!

"But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous." (Matthew 5:44,45 NIV)

Talk about having a sense of humor! When Jesus told people to do this I can only imagine what they were thinking. "What? Is He nuts? No, He wasn't--He was simply being who He was and is--Love!

Love--can only produce love, can only ignite love, can only fuel love and while it can be a strain sometimes, to love the unlovable, we can do it when we remember this. The problem with remembering this message is that we are often seduced by a spirit of self-righteousness to think we have to cater to those who hate us and we we do not.

How do I  know? When Jesus overturned the tables in the temple because of the farce He saw of hypocrites, He loved them enough to correct them. When parents have rules and instill in their children appropriate behaviors it is because of love. God has established proprieties for all of us and in order to obey Him, we have to love--not be foolish, but care enough about people that we plan no harm, but want to see them in position to receive all that God has for them.

Only an enemy plans harm--love plans care and protection.

Even when we recognize the enemy, we can still love them enough to correct them, redirect their thinking, and treat them courteously, and never lose sight of the rules established to maintain order and consideration of others.

Because people "in general" do not understand the meaning of courtesy and consideration, they often ignore the rules of courtesy and the laws of the land. Discourteous drivers think they are the only ones with the right to drive on the roads, at any time, and to ignore those who also have rights. Discourteous movie-goers have phones ringing and public conversations that interfere with those who have also paid to see the movie to "hear" what's on the screen. Discourteous people eat at restaurants and never tip their servers appropriately. Discourteous people only think about what they want and never consider the rights of others or give them any consideration. In spite of all this, we can still love--sometimes from afar--and pray that their hearts will be softened to hear God and know Love, so they, too--can love.

Regardless of how we feel--as long as we do not allow ourselves to be put in harm's way--we love regardless of the attitudes of others towards us. Jesus said so, but even He had limits and boundaries--because He is love!

Consider Your Ways!

"Now therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Consider your ways" (Haggai 1:5).

People are often amazed at the senseless violence, loss of life, destruction of families, and crimes of such magnitude that all we can do is simply shake our heads.

Inconsiderate people are incapable of thinking beyond the moment or about how their actions impact others. We see it all the time. Carelessness with campfires or even cigarette smoking--fires burning out of control, destroying property, taking lives, and ruining memories. Inconsiderate people drink and drive with no other thought other than to make themselves "feel good" when in actuality, they only feel worse. These people cause accidents-maiming and killing--and some never stop drinking and driving.

Inconsiderate people speed through neighborhoods--with no thought of children or others in wheelchairs or the elderly who cannot move as fast as they used to move. They hit people with cars and run from the scene like the cowards they really are. The cowards often leave people dead or dying and they do not care. They gave no thought to their actions.

Inconsiderate people are often greedy people who will stop at nothing to obtain what they want by any means. They rob people at gunpoint, with shovels, with knives, with threatening notes in banks and stores and care not one wit about how actions will leave a life time of tragedy in their wake.

Inconsiderate people think everyone around them wants to hear their loud, crass, raunchy music--so they play it loud enough to shake windows and interfere with other drivers and their ability to hear what is going on around them.

Inconsiderate people play pranks without thinking about all the possible consequences and some pranks have led to the death of people.

Inconsiderate people think the world evolves around them and therefore they have a right to do whatever they want to do, whenever they want to do it and then they complain when they have to deal with the consequences of their actions. They have never learned to "consider their ways."

If we want to see a change in the world, we must begin in our homes and learn to be considerate of others in all we do. Loving others will bring about consideration because we would do not harm those we love. Loving others leads to considering others above ourselves. So the lack of consideration demonstrates a lack of love among many. If we cannot love self, we cannot love others. Consider your ways--do your actions demonstrate love or do they demonstrate total inconsideration regarding others. Think-love-consider all so we can live in peace and harmony and families won't have to mourn the loss of loved ones.