Fuel For The Fire

Late Sunday afternoon I finally had a few moments to relax, so I sat down in the comfy recliner near the patio window in our living room, propped up my feet and turned on my new lap top.  Ahhhh… peace, quiet and maybe just a little bit of fun!  I am still learning the ins and outs of my new computer and as I was going through the list of installed programs I noticed that I had not yet registered the lap top with the manufacturer.  I read through the instructions and then began to type in the required information.  After I had filled in the blanks I hit the “submit” button and waited for the “accepted” confirmation.  But, instead of being accepted I got the red “rejected” notice.  The explanation code stated that I did not put in the proper Manufacturer’s code and serial number.  This was somewhat strange in that the correct numbers were pre-filled in.  Nevertheless I cleared the lines and typed in the identical numbers listed on the back of the computer.

When I received the same error notice, I began to get a little frustrated.  By the third time I was past frustration and into complaining about and then criticizing not only the manufacturer in general but also the individual who wrote the program!  By this time I was well past the thought of getting some time to relax, and decided to quit before it got worse and begin preparing the Barbeque.

Yesterday as I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes, I had a few thoughts about a recent conversation that I had with a family member.  In that conversation the other individual had asked for some information that I had already given to them numerous times in the past.  When that replayed in my mind I began to shake my head and laugh.  Then came the revelation that I had alluded to in yesterday’s post.  I instantly realized that my judgmental reaction of laughing and shaking my head was a reaction brought on by fear, just as my reaction to the complications with the computer program was on Sunday.

Huh… you might be thinking?  Well, as I stopped rinsing the egg off of the plate at the sink, I saw that if I was trusting in the Lord, I would not have gotten fearful in that I was wasting my precious free time on Sunday, or by the fear that the other individual in our conversation that morning had either forgotten our previous conversations on the same subject or did not think it or me important enough to remember the information or for that matter, where they had already written the info down before!  This may sound kind of silly, but it is true!

Think about yourself for a moment here.  What is the REAL reason behind the times that you might complain about something, or make a negative comment when someone cuts you off in traffic, or be critical of another person’s reactions to a situation that concerns you, or when the Pastor gets a little too close to home in a sermon or when you hear that someone said something very negative about you to someone else?  Perfect love would lead us to forgive, be positive or look for the best before any opposite reaction would occur.  I John 4:17 says that love gives us confidence in the face of judgment, “because as He is, so are we in this world.” (KJV)

That “perfect love” that does away with fear (I John 4:18 NKJV) not only has to do with how others deal with you, but also with our response to them as well as to ourselves! It would seem that critical words, complaining, judgments, raised eyebrows and the Ah-Ha! attitude are all fueled by fear.  So why not simply take away the source of the fuel and extinguish any potential fires of anger, frustration and hurt?  And the lesson that I learned was that it all starts and can end with me – NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS OR DOES!

Think about it… Have a great day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”