Sometimes life puts me thru difficult things that I don’t understand. Sometimes I feel misunderstood, unappreciated, underutilized and alone. I find myself in the middle of a battle for my mind. One way is to brood over those hard things. To think poorly of others involved and wish them harm. To be passive aggressive. It’s tempting to give up.
When I find myself here, I try to change my perspective. I believe that, generally speaking, people want to do what’s right. They care just like I care. If relationships are to remain intact, if progress is to be made, if I’m to stay the course, I’ve got to see things from another perspective.
And so I put myself in another person’s shoes and imagine myself being them, seeing me do the things I do from their perspective. When I do this, I find that my thoughts actually change. Thinking from another person’s thought pattern, I can easily see how they’d get frustrated.
We are the church and meant to build each other up. In order to do so, we need to see the good in others and call it out. I’m a firm believer in bringing light to the dark places of this earth as one of the few major functions of the church. Most often there is already a bit of light and a bit of dark in situations, it just takes turning your head to see.
It’s easy to love those we relate to. We all have a personality, and some don’t mesh well with others. But if we take the vantage point of another, we can learn to appreciate them.
Another thing I try to do in these tough spots is laugh, and usually I need help to get there. Here’s some help for those of you in need of a good laugh.
