Resolve conflict with the end in mind.
Earlier this week, I heard noises above my head, on the roof. That seemed odd. So I went out to see what was causing the noise. I saw a squirrel. Then I saw three squirrels. I wondered what they were doing. They appeared to wonder what I was doing. I stood still long enough to watch as they scurried across the tile, checking under them, back and forth again and again.
It was a revelation. What do squirrels do but eat, drink, play a bit, build nests – none of which would be served by running around a tile roof. So I told them, “There’s no food up there. There’s no water. What are you doing?” They just looked at me, wondering, I’m sure, what I was doing. Their little brown eyes said, “There’s no sermon up here!” And I said, “Ahhh, but you’re wrong!”
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Seek God's will, ahead even of our own best intentions.
When I was a little kid I made a mess in the kitchen. I must have been about 7 or 8 years old, making a peanut butter & jelly sandwich. I dropped some grape jelly on the kitchen floor and it left a stain. My mom was resting. I was old enough to know I needed to take responsibility for my actions and clean up my own mess. And so I did. Did I ever!
I started with an all-purpose cleaner called Janitor in a Drum. Then I went around the house, under every sink, and found every type of cleaner we had. I figured the more I put on there the better, expecting them to work even better together than they would alone. I can still hear in my mind what I was thinking at the time, “The combined forces of Janitor in a Drum, Mr. Clean and Formula 409 together for the first time!” I supposed after this job we’d be ready to take on Godzilla or something. I’m lucky I didn’t generate toxic fumes or get a chemical burn.
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Be transformed by the renewing of your minds.
Dr. DeeAnn Reeder is the wife of one of my best friends from seminary. She has a PhD and is a professor of biology at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania. She studies brain physiology, specifically the ways our brains physically change based on our behaviors and the environment. As she explained it to me, scientists no longer debate whether a trait or behavior is genetic or environmental. Genetics and the environment affect each other, and demonstrate how we can be, as Paul said, transformed by the renewing of our minds.
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