I firmly believe that anything I ask God for must be met with personal accountability and responsibility. Once I’ve communicated my heart’s desires, that’s when the tests start rolling in to see how strong my faith is. If I’m asking for Chipotle and settle for Taco Bell then am I really hungry for what I asked for? But how do we know when it’s meant to keep trying and exhausting energy or when it’s meant to accept a job well done and swivel? Communication and effort for a cause are great, but sometimes the best response is changed behavior. Let’s toast to a rebrand.
The prayer that I pray the most: Keep me protected. I found a nice pair of slacks to match the autumn leaves and made my way to the dressing room to try them on, along with a few other items. I placed them on the rack for the retailer to count them, and as she was doing so, a young lady walked up behind me as next in line. The retailer placed the number tag on the counter to coincide with the item count. I grabbed it and began my journey to the back. The same young lady who was behind me, too, began her journey. As I was sold on which dressing room to squeeze into and turned around to close the door, I saw her standing in the doorway, to my surprise. “I think you grabbed the tag meant for me,” she says. I responded, “No, you need to go back to the front of the dressing room and let the retailer count your items so she can give you a tag.” The final exchange on her behalf: “Well, okay she should’ve used her words.” The first thing that came to my mind was, “You should’ve used your words instead of following me all the way into the back of this doggone dressing room area,” but I felt like it was a test. Everything doesn’t deserve my reaction, and by remaining quiet, she had to sit with the fact that she did the most for less. I get a kick out of that these days as these are the types of requests where I further understand the importance of honoring myself.
As much as I value getting down to the bottom line during times of miscommunication, reaching a resolution so to speak, life doesn’t always deem that as being the best activity on the itinerary. I can only control myself, and a moment of pause establishes self-awareness and self-respect. This is when the time for faith ramps up, and the intuition takes over. I might not get to say everything that’s on my mind, but a positive aspect is that intuition doesn’t leave much room for gray areas. It’s either a yes or a no. This always makes room for what my behavior should be moving forward. Should I embrace the conflict or should I let it go? In the scenario above, if I had reacted immediately, I may have regretted it and felt disappointment. Sometimes, communication isn’t enough, and it’s time to retract all energy completely. One way or another, the settlement will come. So, did you honor yourself today?
Reflection Points:
- I asked a few questions throughout this post, so what are your thoughts?
- What process(es) do you take to prevent reactivity? How can you improve on being reactive?
- Do the tests get harder as you get closer to receiving what you asked for?