Thankfully, the birthday hype is over! All in all, Monday, July 27, 2009 passed with little fanfare. The baseball game we attended was fun and the Minnesota Twins won! Life goes on and the next truly siginificant birthday event will not occur for another 25 years. In the meantime, I return to everyday life. That is the subject of this blog posting.
I begin by posing the question, "Do we set ourselves up for disappointment if we expect someone to make an honest effort to modify their behavior?" This question is solely based on my experiences as a father, brother, pastor, apartment manager, corporate IT manager, co-worker and significant other. It seems as though I have the accumulation of a half-century of experiences upon which to formulate my question.
In many of those areas of experience or expertise, if you will, the underlying force is complete lack of respect. Lack of respect comes in many forms and wears many faces. There is, of course, lack of respect for those in authority - parents, supervisors, managers, police and government. Usually such a lack of respect is founded upon a lack of respect for oneself. "Because I have absolutely no self-respect for myself, I will not respect you or anything that you consider important."
Another area of concern which I have encountered repeatedly is "absence of the truth". Unfortunately, this occurs in all types of relationships from business to family to personal relationships. Based on fear, all sorts of wild stories and excuses are presented as reasoning behind the failure to be open and honest. Mostly, these types of events are based on fear. For example, individuals fear retribution at work so they overlook employee misconduct or make up excuses for their own performance failures. In family relationships, there is a fear of rejection or anger by another family member. I will be so bold as to say that much of corporate America is built and continues to operate based on lies and deception.
Here I am reminded of the admonition and promise presented in the New Testament Gospel according to John. "Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God." [John 3:20-21 NIV] I find comfort and confidence in the words written in the first chapter of this same book. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it." [John 1:1-4 NIV]
In conclusion then, "the world is the world" and "people will be people". The prophet Malachi offers comfort and reassurance by reminding me that " 'I the LORD do not change'.... says the LORD Almighty." [Malachi 3:6a; 7c NIV] No matter what we face in this world, there is one constant. In the words of the great reformer, Martin Luther, "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"!
~ DB Turnmire
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