Ever know someone that has to be "in the know" about everyone & everything going on in their lives? Someone who picks up the paper to turn to the obits or surfs over to the news site to see what tragedies occurred overnight? Maybe someone that religiously visits people's personal websites and comments out loud the stories or content of those sites? "Living vicariously" through other people's experiences & tragedies in order to gain their own sad form of attention.
I know several people like that, the hard thing is not to feed into the cycle. Piss poor attitudes trickle down, gloom & doom is contagious if you allow it a foothold. Feeding into the cycle not only gives it a foothold, but often opens a floodgate that can bog down your very soul. It's hard, so hard sometimes not to "acknowledge the cues" that trips the wire of gloom & doom.
The cues can take any form from visual cues (hunched shoulders, forlorn look on the face) to verbal cues (a heavy sigh, an aloud "oh,no", or the real trap an "honest" question about something). Lately I've been tracking the cues people have been giving me and evaluating them. After evaluating them I've been able to find ways to avoid interacting with them. The sighs go unnoticed, the aloud comments go uncommented on, the answers to questions are met with either a short answer or an "I don't know".
Sometimes the worst situations are the ones where you are in a small group and 2 "doom & gloomers" have a "gloom-off", trying to outdo eachother in personal tragedies. A sad, sad pissing contest on who is in need of more sympathy. I have been in the middle of some of the spectacles and let me tell you, the grip of despair & questioning your own life's well-being becomes very strong. It's times like that when you need to turn to God & thank Him. I find strength in a few bible verses when I begin to question my own life's situation:
" For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." Jer 29:11-13, NLT
"And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them." Ro 8:28, NLT
"For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength." Phil 4:13, NLT
My thought for the day? Don't acknowledge the cues, but acknowledge & give thanks to Him that loves you & wants to prosper you...
MattyV
www.iweighedmorethanjared.com
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