Have you ever had the feeling that you’ve done “this” before and it’s not something that you enjoyed the first time (or second or third ) or you just didn’t like the result?The older we get, the more that seems to happen. Sometimes we recognize it and avoid going any further for that very reason…the paralyzing fear that things will turn out the same each time.
Frequently, this can occur in career and relationships (not just the romantic variety). We put these life experiences into categories (or boxes) and sometimes make faulty hypothesis based on those. If we get frustrated, the boxes just get bigger and more general. We discount God’s uniqueness and the details of every individual or situation and just say “been there done that…not again”, when maybe we should be giving it a little more thought (or prayer). When we get stuck, it’s like we have a decision tree with no branches. Maybe we should consider that Company G may just be a little different than Company A and perhaps Susie isn’t JUST LIKE Sally.
This does not mean that we need to discount common sense (or God’s wisdom) and people, in particular, can sometimes disappoint, but I’m not sure that simply avoiding is ever the right answer. We should be able to learn from our mistakes and still find something “fresh” in similar circumstances. None of this guarantees that the outcome will be overwhelmingly positive, but if we look for the subtle uniqueness of each circumstance, perhaps we can (to use a tired quote) “make lemonade out of lemons”.
Frequently, this can occur in career and relationships (not just the romantic variety). We put these life experiences into categories (or boxes) and sometimes make faulty hypothesis based on those. If we get frustrated, the boxes just get bigger and more general. We discount God’s uniqueness and the details of every individual or situation and just say “been there done that…not again”, when maybe we should be giving it a little more thought (or prayer). When we get stuck, it’s like we have a decision tree with no branches. Maybe we should consider that Company G may just be a little different than Company A and perhaps Susie isn’t JUST LIKE Sally.
This does not mean that we need to discount common sense (or God’s wisdom) and people, in particular, can sometimes disappoint, but I’m not sure that simply avoiding is ever the right answer. We should be able to learn from our mistakes and still find something “fresh” in similar circumstances. None of this guarantees that the outcome will be overwhelmingly positive, but if we look for the subtle uniqueness of each circumstance, perhaps we can (to use a tired quote) “make lemonade out of lemons”.
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