Seeing Things Differently 5/5/2024

 Good Morning,

This day started super early with a hot cup of Door County Breakfast Blend Coffee, prayer and a bowl of Cheerios. 

Proverbs 16:7 When a man's way pleases the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Two people can look at a cloud and see two different things. It doesn't mean that either one is correct or more correct than the other person. They just have a difference of opinions. I have learned to agree with my wife on small things such as where to hang a picture. A picture on the wall is not the ditch I choose to dig for a battle. She affords me that same luxury in return. We might not agree, but is it really a big deal?

I do most of the cooking and I run my ideas by Rene to see if she has any objections to my proposed meal plan. Last week she objected to the plan on one item. Not that she wouldn't eat it, but she asked when we might be eating beef meatloaf again? It was easy to change the plan on one day from grilled chicken to her favorite. As I thought about it, meatloaf had become a distant memory. 

Friends, that was a small issue for sure and wasn't a big deal at all. But there comes a time when the issue is a little more contentious. Emotions rage, because we believe that we are completely right and our way is the only way. In some instances, this is the only way. But where we experience failure is from not even trying to see the issue from the other person's perspective. We dig in and become irrational in our responses. Even if we become polarized in our view or opinions we still must try to respect the other person and see if there can be any common ground. If not, we need to seek to disagree peacefully. Many a marriage suffers when we don't look at things through the eyes of the other person. We tend to make battle plans instead of plans for peace and harmony.

Put on their glasses and see the world from a different set of eyes. It broadens your perspectives! 

I ask you this. Do you see a potato large enough to feed hundreds in my photo, or a road hazard? It's just two ways to look at it. The third way was what my wife saw. "I shouldn't be taking pictures while driving!

Marty