Some mornings I wake up to a day that seems to have a shadow cast over it. They are nothing and nobody days. Nothing seems to make me happy and nobody seems to do things the right way.
The cause may be that I am feeling bad, the world is wearing on me, or spiritual forces are attacking me. Whatever the cause, the outcome is the same. People just seem to get on my nerves. All kinds of people for all kinds of reasons. They are rocks in my path.
I am quick to judge that my frustrations are their fault. My ground rule is simple in deciding what is “fair” or “reasonable”. I even have a name for it.
WWID – What Would I Do. If I were them, what would I have done? Expect the same thing from others as you expect from yourself. One standard that applies to everyone equally.
If you cut into line, you shouldn’t have. WWID? Wait your turn.
If you no-show a commitment, that is wrong. WWID? Do what you say you will do.
If you robo-call me, that is annoying and even illegal. WWID? Be respectful and follow the law.
Judging is very efficient when I hold people accountable to what I think of myself, but it doesn’t seem to bring me joy. It is also unfair.
I am judging other people based on an opinion of my own capabilities, circumstances, values, and preferences. In reality, nobody shares all of these things with me. God made me as a unique creature with unique capabilities and placed me into a unique environment. How could someone else be me?
In order to climb up this emotional ladder, I need to remember how I descended in the first place.
On my happy days, I follow the Golden Rulethat Jesus gave us in Matthew 7:12.
Focusing on what Jesus has already done for me gives me the strength to do things for others. When I take my eyes off him and focus on the tasks, the Golden Rule becomes exhausting. I get tired of running around trying to do so much and just like Peter started to sink when he took his eyes of Jesus, I slide down my own ladder.
When I get tired of working too hard, I step down a few rungs to the Even Steven Rule.
The workload is much lighter here. I get to ignore all the people who don’t appreciate me and focus my efforts on people who return the favor.
This fails when people have their own problems. Eventually, they become too needy or offend me. When that happens, I slide down further and the WWID Rule goes into effect.
The word “do” is totally removed from the WWID Rule. Instead of doing anything, I just sit back and expect better. On these days, I have totally forgotten everything I have received and look past the constant blessing in my life. I stop receiving from Jesus and start expecting from others. That is when the list of people who frustrate me starts to grow.
If you have WWID days like me, the good news is that Jesus is more than enough. Whatever we expect of him, he continues to exceed. When we reach for him, we begin to climb back up the ladder.
As we climb back past the Even Steven level, we see that he has done more for us than we can do for him. The closer we look, the more blessings we see that are piled up. Golden Rule days are easy when you focus on receiving and releasing blessings that overwhelm your ability to hold them all.
The Golden Rule was based on the law of the Old Testament. The New Testament version of the Golden Rule isn’t a rule at all. It is a Life of Grace and it is the highest rung on the ladder.
Grace doesn’t require us to “do” or “give” anything. It doesn’t turn on or off based on our response. Grace gives us the chance to share with other people who Jesus loves just as much as he loves us.
In this world, I expect that WWID days will happen. When they do, the important thing is for me to quit expecting to receive more from others and start focusing on what to do with the overflow I already have.
Do not think about a ripe watermelon, split in half and filled with seeds.
Too hard because the picture is above it? All right. Do not think about the fork you would use to eat the watermelon.
You thought about them, right? The pictures linger in our minds, totally disregarding the instruction not to think about it. The more often we tell ourselves not to think about them, the deeper the images get burned in.
The word “not” vanishes and our brains focus on the message. These thoughts fill our mind and can determine our perspective. The Apostle Paul cautioned about it when he wrote.
It’s not just about picturing things. Imagine you are driving down the road and the person in the passenger seat says “Watch out for that pothole on the right.” When your eyes turn toward the right, where do you automatically guide the steering wheel?
Solomon provided some relevant advice, which matches my kids’ instructor from Vista Ridge Driving School.
The same principle works with instructions, too. No matter who is giving them.
“Adam and Eve, you must not eat the fruit from that tree.” As they heard him speak the words, they must have been imagining themselves biting into the fruit. The action soon followed.
Unless we are really careful, then we will imagine things we shouldn’t, and our eyes will guide us into things we should avoid.
When I criticize people or focus attention on negative things, I build those images in their minds. It is only natural that they would start to see examples of those images as they walk through their daily lives. When they focus on those examples, they unintentionally steer toward them.
If I believe that, why do I complain so much about things I don’t like – burning those images into my own brain? And why do I spend so much time warning people about perils to avoid – guiding them into those very dangers?
I was thinking about that this morning while I was showering before work. During my final rinse, I decided to go on a not-fast. I committed to avoid the use of negative comments and to redirect my thoughts toward positive imagery.
Stepping out of the shower onto the bathmat, I described to Kim something that worried me about a friend. My fast was broken within sixty seconds. It is hard to change our behaviors.
God uses images to influence our behaviors positively. Before we were born, he created a perfect picture of what we could become. He doesn’t change that picture when we fail. He forgets our sins and embraces his original image and his plan for our lives.
As he reveals that image to us, we see glimpses of it in our daily walk with him. We are drawn to those things, which steer us into our destiny.
I want to become the person that God sees me to be. I also want to help all the people in my life in that same pursuit.
One day at a time, one person a time, we can begin to see people in the same glory that God sees them. As we speak that over them, they will automatically be steered in that direction.
I am careful in my writing. When my words get tangled up in “nots”, I carefully replace them with ones that construct my message. My backspace button gets a heavy workout, but the finished product seen by others focuses on a positive thought.
Regular life is more difficult than writing, but why can’t we use a mental backspace button? We can deconstruct flawed images of the people in our lives and replace them with ones that God ordained.
I dream that my writing will motivate people, so I choose my words and images carefully. Ironically, it is me that is initially impacted. I am the first person to be affected by the hope I seek to share, and it is contagious.
The world of tomorrow is being built in our minds today. What kind of world do you see?
Prophesy the hope, joy, and love that you envision. Speak over people the greatness that you see in them. Be the voice of truth.
80% of us believe in miracles – supernatural interventions that cause amazing, improbable things to happen1. There are all kinds of examples.
Stories abound of cancer victims cured instantly, people surviving falls from dizzying heights, and dead hearts that begin to beat again. Most people also believe that God is responsible for these miracles.
People love to tell stories of the awesome power of miracles. Everyone has an example of something amazing. It’s like they are saying “That’s my God, all right. He is strong enough to do anything.”
These mega-miracles are comforting because they reinforce God’s role as your protector. They are huge, indisputable signs of his presence. They give hope that in your own days of despair, he will come to your rescue, too.
There is another kind of miracle. I searched online, but can’t find any research studies measuring how many of us believe in them. I call them mini-miracles, and they require a different level of faith.
Mini-miracles are small influences made by God in our own lives. They are still supernatural and improbable. They may be smaller in size, but they aren’t smaller in impact. Here is an example of a recent mini-miracle in my life.
I’ve been sick for the past few weeks. I’ve been super-fatigued and can barely get through a slow day. Doctors haven’t been much help yet figuring out why. On a recent Saturday, my friends were getting together to do yard work for a friend who really needed help. I desperately wanted to go but knew I’d never survive the strenuous activity on a day forecasted to be over 90 degrees.
The morning of the event I felt terrible. I asked God to give me the strength to serve him that day. Against Kim’s better judgment, I loaded up and drove over, then felt the best I had in weeks. For the next eight hours, I had more energy than I’d had in a long time. It was an awesome day. However, I woke up the next day exhausted again.
It wasn’t earth-shattering, but it was supernatural. It wasn’t impossible, but it was improbable. Most importantly, it was personal. I loved it.
Recognizing mini-miracles requires an admission that God is moving in your life all the time. It acknowledges that he cares about you personally and spends time with you throughout each day. Mini-miracles happen because God is always present in your life.
Sometimes when life is hard, we feel alone. The pain that overwhelms us doesn’t go away when we pray for it. Voices whisper in your ear, saying that God could help but isn’t really worried about you right now, he has other things to do. Feeling abandoned, we don’t even expect help.
The beauty of mini-miracles isn’t the change they make in your life. The beauty of a mini-miracle is the simple reminder that God is there.
In the ministry part of my life, it has been easy to expect mini-miracles. In his name, I step into situations where I lack the ability and resources to make a difference. God has intervened so many times that I have learned to depend on his help as much as I can depend on a hammer to drive a nail.
I want to live that way all the time. Unfortunately, too often I fall short of passionate pursuit and settle for obligatory obedience.
Obedience is doing what God says, but it isn’t the same thing as passionately pursuing him. For example, when I talk about the ministry part of my life, that is just another way of saying the parts of my life that I live in a passionate pursuit of God. That distinguishes them from other parts of my life where I am merely obedient.
How much different would my marriage be if I surrendered it totally to him? What if I expected that every time Kim and I came together that we would be releasing his love into the world? Miracles would occur if I wasn’t guarded and defensive but instead expected to see the handiwork of God explode into the city just because we were together. My marriage would be so much stronger.
What if I entered each meeting at work expecting God to move instead of worrying about being right or wrong, being perceived correctly or not? What would happen if I reached out in faith, relying on God for success? Work would need a new name.
Maybe you have an area of your life where you need a miracle. Maybe you need a mega-miracle or maybe only a mini-miracle. Either way, God is on the move, just trust him. Maybe it’s not in the direction you hope for. Let go and let him take over. Then get ready for something amazing.
God loves us desperately. In each area of our life that we turn over to him, miracles will become common.
