Life Unscripted

Monsters Inc. 2 has come to the big screen and Kendyl has been waiting anxiously to see this thing. Luckily I waited until last night to inform her we had an invite from some friends at church to go see it. Otherwise she would’ve asked every five minutes when we could go see it. Patience is one hard concept to tackle with little ones.

I’m online to get the address for my GPS since I’m directionally challenged, and I see a list of reviews for the theater. Most are four or five stars and friendly comments. Others apparently had their feathers ruffled because they had some pretty negative reviews. Most were about the general appearance being outdated. One lady even blasts the theater for her sitting among obnoxious people. Because you know, that’s soooo AMC’s fault.

It’s funny. When we’re asked our opinion, many times it’s easier to just shake our head and walk the other direction. The surveys on our receipts from restaurants rarely get a second look. That is, u less we have a negative experience. Then honey, you better watch out! We’re all over that! We get our angry type on and sneer through ever word and throw them like angry darts at the ones who didn’t make life easy for us.

Why is that? Why are compliments so much rarer than complaints? We’re the first to grumble and mumble under our breath, but it’s so much harder to tell someone they actually did a good job. Instead we nit pick their every move and let them know how they didn’t measure up.

Like my old boss. Who will remain nameless. Even though I just mumbled their name under my breath. I enjoyed my job and the people I worked with. I loved the environment. I worked hard and put my all into everything I did. My dad taught my that. It didn’t matter how hard we worked, our boss was so negative. We constantly had notes and reminders up on the board in the back. Things that we did wrong. Things we needed to improve on. Things that weren’t tolerated and we needed to be reminded because one person forgot. It definitely made this person seem totally unapproachable. We felt like we were ants at a giant’s feet.

I wonder sometimes if it would have been different if they would have posted compliments instead of grumbles. I was blessed to witness this for a few short weeks after Landon was born. I thought I could be super woman and work bright and early on very limited sleep while still nursing and pumping bottles every few hours when he was barely 5 weeks old. I do not recommend this. At all. Your body needs time to recoup.

Anyway, this place had a board in the back too. But this one shocked me. Not in a bad way, but I was shocked to see bright colored post it notes pinned up everywhere lined with compliments! “Melissa, you did a great job greeting customers today!” “Drew, you worked really hard today! I’m glad we have you on our team!” “Crystal, I love your honesty. You showed a lot of character today!” It was such a different vibe in this place. People were happy when they came in the doors to clock in. They were ready to start their days because they knew they were appreciated.

We can’t control how others are towards us. You may be in a situation right now where some people in your life have thrown out seeds of bitterness and negativity. You have a choice. You can either let them take root or you can throw out the seeds and destroy them. If you sink and sulk under their words and hang your head, chances are your self esteem is barely staying afloat.

You can’t change the way you’re being treated, but you do hold the power to change how others are being treated. You can do what Matthew 7:12 says and do unto others as you’d like them to do unto you. You can’t expect people to be kind and treat you with respect if you’ve back stabbed and gossiped about them.

Before you speak, first ask yourself, “Is this helping to rectify the situation or making it worse?” If you’re not sincere in your efforts, you’ll just tick someone off and start building a brick wall between you and that person.

Secondly, are you speaking in love or selfish desires? Don’t let hot lips and a fiery tongue destroy your relationships. 1 Corinthians 13:13 says, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these love.” Let love move you to do great things. We’re not supposed to be like the rest of the world. We’re supposed to be the encouragers, messengers, and up lifters. Instead, we’ve become nay sayers, negative speaking bitter people. Somewhere along the journey, we’ve lost our focus.

It reminds me of the story in 2 Kings 6 when one of the men lost the head of his axe in the water. He lost his edge and couldn’t be effective in cutting down trees without it. Elisha asks him a simple question – “Where did it fall?” And he threw a stick into the water and it made the axe head float. He had to consult someone in wisdom who helped to get his edge back.

Have you lost your edge? Let bitterness and frustrations stop you from being sharp and effective. Like Elisha did, determine where you lost it and go back to that place and retrieve it. It may be a hard, dark place. But you have to face the facts and come to reality with it so you can heal. If not, you might as well sour on the shelf in the back of the fridge.

Take a deep breath. Inhale God’s presence and His Word and exhale words of encouragement. The world needs what we have, they just don’t know it. Let go of those hot lips and let God cool you off.

Living Life Unscripted, Brittany