Today’s Readings: Psalm 59; Genesis 46:1-7, 28-34; Luke 7:36-50; Acts 20:13-27; Psalm 9
One of the character traits I struggle with is my tendency to blow things completely out of proportion. When I bump into a friend or acquaintance and that person is a little short with me, for instance, I’ll find myself re-living our last couple of encounters to see what I might have done to make the person upset with me (this is a textbook expression of my co-dependent tendency). In my quest to find something to justify the other person’s behavior, I’ll often take something small and magnify it. Let me tell you, such an approach to life can get down right exhausting. In today’s first Psalm, the psalmist reminds us that thankfully God doesn’t share our tendency to blow things out of proportion. God has something we often lack: a sense of perspective. Here’s how the psalmist makes this point. The psalmist begins by getting in touch with his inner drama queen when he identifies his opponents as “enemies”, “mutineers”, and “desperadoes”! So how does God see the very same individuals? “But you, God, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes” (Psalm 59:8 – The Message). Maybe there’s an aspect of your life where you’ve lost a sense of perspective – something relatively small that you’ve blown out of proportion and allowed to take over your life. If that’s the case, take some time in prayer and/or meditation and open yourself to seeing things from a new perspective: God’s. You might be surprised how quickly that huge challenge is cut down to size. Til next time…
One of the character traits I struggle with is my tendency to blow things completely out of proportion. When I bump into a friend or acquaintance and that person is a little short with me, for instance, I’ll find myself re-living our last couple of encounters to see what I might have done to make the person upset with me (this is a textbook expression of my co-dependent tendency). In my quest to find something to justify the other person’s behavior, I’ll often take something small and magnify it. Let me tell you, such an approach to life can get down right exhausting. In today’s first Psalm, the psalmist reminds us that thankfully God doesn’t share our tendency to blow things out of proportion. God has something we often lack: a sense of perspective. Here’s how the psalmist makes this point. The psalmist begins by getting in touch with his inner drama queen when he identifies his opponents as “enemies”, “mutineers”, and “desperadoes”! So how does God see the very same individuals? “But you, God, break out laughing; you treat the godless nations like jokes” (Psalm 59:8 – The Message). Maybe there’s an aspect of your life where you’ve lost a sense of perspective – something relatively small that you’ve blown out of proportion and allowed to take over your life. If that’s the case, take some time in prayer and/or meditation and open yourself to seeing things from a new perspective: God’s. You might be surprised how quickly that huge challenge is cut down to size. Til next time…
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