9/17/18
Brandy, Addy, and Grace,
“Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us.” – Earl Nightengale
Our attitude is the lens through which we process what we sense around us. When it comes to people, we see, hear, and smell things that cause our brains to make characterizations (sometimes these are stereotypes) and our hearts to make judgments. From these judgments, we say and do things that they will perceive, judge, and respond to accordingly, and so the Attitude Boomerang returns what it carries out – for good or for evil.
Now there’s a good side to this. In general, a good and caring attitude boomerangs the same thing back. However, that’s not always the case, and being a father, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard, “Well she started it!” Then the other child says, “Nu-uh, she started it when she ________.” And that goes on until I can’t take the circular madness anymore. It’s here that I believe I get a slight sense of what God feels when His greatest Creation disrespects each other and then justifies their actions by saying, “Well they did _____.”
You see, past hurt will build a story in our minds that will create an attitude, and these are even more powerful when they are generational stories and attitudes that are passed on because when they go untreated, they become infected – festering and growing exponentially over time. Unfortunately, it’s through this prejudicial lens that we will judge the hearts of others and chips grow on our shoulders that will cause us to anticipate more harm, prepare our defensive response beforehand, and deliver it swiftly with ever-increasing levels of force at the earliest possible time when we see the other person or group doing something that we even remotely perceive as harmful to us. And in this, the Attitude Boomerang is thrown and returned once again, until someone decides to break the cycle in Faith, Hope, and Love… in Faith that our prejudices aren’t real… in Hope that we can heal the hurt… in Love for God and People.
My Girls, I Hope and Pray that you will see others as your God sees them and do for them as He has done for you.
Challenge Question: What attitude will be coming back at you TODAY?
God’s Word: Luke 6:31-38, James 2:1-4, and John 13:34-35
Dad's Wisdom 