To Act or React, that is the Question

I'm going to share a story that may seem a bit silly at first, but when pondered and reviewed in the view of our own life, I hope it can serve as a help.

Imagine you spent your whole life saving up for your dream car. You scrimped and saved for years to make your dreams your reality.  Finally, that joyous day has come! You go to the car lot, pay in cash, and drive away happy as can be.  After driving for a few miles, you hear a strange noise. What could it be?  You stop the car and, much to your dismay, find that your new car has a flat tire!  After some words of frustration, you decide that the car is forever ruined.  Instead of fixing the tire, you decide to pour gas all of the car and light it on fire. So much for the car! So much for your dream!  All hope was lost when you found that flat tire.

Does this sound a little irrational?

It should.

Upon further observation, have you ever acted this way in your life?  Think about something you really desire. Whether that be a family, career, faith, or anything of worth.  In your mind, you have a picture perfect expectation. Someday I'm going to have that perfect career...someday I'm going to have the perfect family...and so on and so on.  Now what do you do when things aren't quite like you imagined?  Do you throw in the towel?

My heart has ached from meeting so many individuals who have thrown away everything good in their life because they were offended.  Specifically, many people stop going to worship God because of what man has done.

Just like this comic on the left depicts, maybe if we took the time to calm ourselves down and if we looked to the Savior for answers, then we could salvage the problem; therefore saving our hopes and dreams. The Savior is the mender of broken hearts, and He knows how to turn the switch of our hearts from discouraged and                                                      down-trodden, to happy and hopeful. I know He has done this in my life. I testify that He can fix even the biggest holes left in our hearts from discouragements we have faced.

I have yet another example:

Imagine that a snake bites you. What are you going to do?........(seriously, take a moment to ponder).

Suppose you are angry with the snake and decide to kill it to get your revenge.  What good does that do?  Well, the snake is dead, but now you are almost dead too because the poison has spread through your leg.

Now, what if you were to not worry about the snake, and you focused instead on getting the venom out of your system.

This is just like life, isn't it?  We can let the words of others sink into our skins; if we focus on revenge, then it only poisons ourselves more. However, if we focus on healing and forgiving, then we can get the help we need from the physician (the master physician being Christ), and we can live happy and fulfilling lives.

Just food for your thought today....

*For more study on this subject, check out this powerful conference talk: Removing the Poison of an Unforgiving Spirit