Skip to main content

“We all have drama in our lives, but many people are controlled by that drama.”

A thought by Mike Bechtle from his book, People Can't Drive You Crazy If You Don't Give Them the Keys (p. 26). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

And that may be true of you and me.

Mike says, “Their lives and emotions seem to be at the mercy of everything that happens around them. Without realizing it, they have become victims of the weaknesses of others and their lives are controlled by those people.

Mike tells of a situation where his wrong perception brought about great drama.

He says, “Where did my emotions come from in that process? Since I didn’t have all the facts, did the real drama come from the situation or from my interpretation of the situation? Could I have handled it differently? What about the next time something like that happens? Is there a way to respond differently?

“I realized that my problem was threefold: I didn’t have all the facts, so I made assumptions. I decided those assumptions were accurate. My emotions were based on assumptions that were untrue (but I didn’t know they were untrue).

“Notice that the whole process took place inside my head. In this case, I was upset that another person was messing up my life. But if I had known the truth, I could have made better assumptions and experienced different emotions. In fact, that’s exactly what happened when I finally discovered the truth.”

Mike goes on, “That’s the problem with our perspective; we always assume we’re right based on the information we have. In most of this book, we’ll be talking about how to respond when people make crazy choices that mess up our lives. But the place to begin is with our perspective. No matter what the other person does, it’s our perspective that determines how we feel and respond.

 “Our perspective is the lens through which we interpret everything we see in the world around us. It’s like wearing glasses. Unless they’re really dirty, we don’t notice the lenses; we see through those lenses. If the lenses have the wrong prescription, things look distorted. When that happens, we don’t question the lens; we just assume that the object we’re seeing is really distorted.”

Later Mike says, “The Bible says that any argument makes sense until we hear the other side (Prov. 18:17). That doesn’t mean we’re wrong and the other person is right. But it means that our perspective may be incomplete. The only hope we have for dealing with crazy people is to base our assumptions, actions, and responses on truth.

“It takes humility to question our perspectives. Until we look through the other person’s eyes, we don’t have the complete picture.”

Our life would be so much more peaceful if we could strive to do that, wouldn’t it?

Yes, yes!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“There’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.”

A thought by Bob Goff from his book, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People ( p. 41). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)   Have you ever built a sand castle or maybe a Lego castle?   Have you? Bob says, “We actually build castles all the time, out of our jobs and our families and the things we’ve purchased. Sometimes we even make them out of each other. Some of these castles are impressive too. Lots of people come to admire what we’ve built over the course of our lives and tell us what great castles we have. But Jesus told His friends we weren’t supposed to spend our lives building castles. He said He wanted us to build a kingdom, and there’s a big difference between building a castle and building a kingdom.” Bob goes on, “You see, castles have moats to keep creepy people out, but kingdoms have bridges to let everyone in. Castles have dungeons for people who ha...
Post a Comment
Read more

“God does big things with small deeds.”

A thought by Max Lucado (2011-05-02) from his book, Cure for the Common Life (p. 115). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.) I don’t know how you feel about what you are doing and how it can make a difference.   You may feel that it is so small and not even worth the effort. Max says, “Begin. Just begin! What seems small to you might be huge to someone else. Just ask Bohn Fawkes. During World War II, he piloted a B-17. On one mission he sustained flak from Nazi antiaircraft guns. Even though his gas tanks were hit, the plane did not explode, and Fawkes was able to land the plane. “On the morning following the raid, Fawkes asked his crew chief for the German shell. He wanted to keep a souvenir of his incredible good fortune. The crew chief explained that not just one but eleven shells had been found in the gas tanks, none of which had exploded. “Technicians opened the missiles and found them void of explosive cha...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Lie 2: The more you worry about it, the better your odds of avoiding it."

A thought by Louie Giglio in his book,   Winning the War on Worry    (p. 5). Thomas Nelson. Kindle Edition. (Click on the book title to go to Amazon to buy the book.) Here is another lie that the Enemy uses with us. And Louie says, "This is a tricky lie. Yes, we often have cause for concern and preparation. But the Enemy wants you to believe that if you worry or fret over a certain outcome long enough, you can keep something bad from happening." But this is so important to realize. He says, "The reality is worrying has never once prevented something negative from happening. Planning might. Prayer has. But worry never will." He continues, "The Enemy tells you that by worrying about a situation (or every situation) you can make your tomorrow better. Really, worry just robs you of today. Jesus implored us: 'I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body mor...
Post a Comment
Read more