PONDERINGS MARCH 25, 2014
Do You Need a New Measuring
Stick?
I have to admit
that I am not one to need a measuring stick for too many things. When I hang a
picture I tend to “eyeball” it and said, “Oh I think it is straight”! I am not
a “DIY” person so I don’t have a need for one for “do it yourself projects”. I
don’t sew so I don’t need one to measure fabric. In reality, I don’t use a
measuring stick very often. I have been known to use one to help me get
something from a shelf I could not reach! I have several at my house for when
my family or friends come and they do projects for me so they can be accurate.
However, when I
begin to think about how I measure my life experiences, I wonder if I need a
New Measuring Stick! What do I use when
I measure my self-worth, my attitude, my daily life, and what the future holds.
When we begin to
measure our self-worth we often tend to use the measuring stick of “fear”
when we look at ourselves. We spend time fearful of what people are thinking
about us. We often find that we try to become what we think others want us to
be rather than who we really are. We often use that “fear” stick when we look
at how God thinks of us and we often feel unworthy of His love and grace.
The measuring
stick of self-worth should be one that recognizes our uniqueness and how we
were wonderfully and fearfully made. The
Psalmist expressed his self-worth in Psalm 139:14, “I praise you because I am
fearfully and wonderfully made”. When we use this as our measuring
stick, we no longer have need of the “fear”
stick of what people think or how God feels about us.
The measuring
stick for attitude is decided by each person.
Life is not always like an easy Merry Go Round ride. More often than not
it is Roller Coaster ride. I can remember my dad saying, “when you are in the
valley, and you climb back to the top one thing you will notice: the valley was
not as low as the last time and the mountain top is a little higher than the
last time.” We need to keep climbing knowing God will always help us not go as
low as we have been and will help us reach new heights of life through choosing
a positive attitude.
The measuring
stick for our attitude should be one that does not measure the WHY of our circumstances
but HOW we respond to our circumstances. The following quote perhaps could serve as a
reminder of the kind of measuring stick we need, “The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude.” Dennis
S. Brown
The measuring
stick looking at life situations, often is one that will use the past as a
measuring stick instead of looking at the present. There is not one person who has not had
something tragic or bad happen to them. It could be a loss of a job you think
was unfair, the loss of a spouse through divorce, loss of a child through
death, your child chooses drugs or a lifestyle that is not what you would want
for them, the list could go on and on with different unfair situations in life.
Using the
measuring stick of “things are unfair” leads to the development of a lack of
trust in people and God. A lack of trust in someone else loving you because you
were hurt, not trusting your boss because you have been mistreated by another
boss, becoming an overprotected parent to your children because you had the
loss of a child, a fear of trusting your child again because they may
disappoint again, and if God really loved me He would not allow these things to
happen.
In order to
overcome this we must recognize that our past is the past and we have to live
in the today. This quote is a wonderful
attitude to adopt for living in the here and now. “Fear not for the future, weep not for the
past” Author unknown Words
of hope and comfort are found in the words of Jeremiah, “And there is hope for your
future,” declares the Lord.” Jeremiah 31:17
The measuring
stick for the future is often; ”What is going to happen next?” as if it could
not possibly be anything positive. Using
this measuring stick, the prediction will not be positive.
We may need a new
measuring stick of “Hope”. The following quote from Henry Ward Beecher might
describe this kind of measuring stick: “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take
hold of it with the handle of anxiety or the handle of faith and hope.” The choice is left up to us to decide which
handle we pick up.
The Psalmist in
Psalms 31:24 gives instructions for those needing hope. “Be strong take
courage, All you who hope in the Lord.”
Do you need a new measuring stick? Just remember: “If the sky falls, hold up your
hands.” Author Unknown
