|
My need to be right is the formula for
perpetual conflict. When I believe that I am always right, I make the
rest of the world wrong if they don’t agree with me. The probability I
am always right is zero. If I work hard at it, I may be right most of
the time, but I will never be right all the time. It’s impossible and
not worth the effort.
When the need to be right consumes me, I live a life of perpetual
conflict. I need to decide whether I would rather be happy or rather be
right. The world doesn’t need a critic and isn’t impressed by my
commitment to righteous judgment. The world needs my love and help
rather than my judgment. When my heart is full of love, negative and
judgmental thinking fades. When I take the initiative and send love to
everyone, conflict fades as well.
At the end of my life, no one will ask me how many conflicts I had or
whether I won or lost all those battles. No one will ask if I was
always right. On the final judgment day, I will be judged on loving and
letting go. When I love people, conflict disappears. A heart full of
love easily handles ninety-nine percent of life’s challenges and does it
without conflict. It recognizes how often things are worth fighting
about. The answer is almost never.
Copyright © 2013
|
|
When you make your decisions today, are you going to
do the legal thing, the right thing, or the loving thing?
Most people always do the legal thing, usually do the right thing, and
sometimes do the loving thing. People who are alive spiritually
know that this is doing things backwards; you should always do the
loving thing. Usually the loving thing is both legal and right,
while the reverse often is not true.
If you choose to do the legal thing, you will be walking on thin
spiritual ice. A crafty lawyer can figure out a way for you to do
almost anything you want, irrespective of whether it's right or wrong,
and the question of whether it's loving is never considered. If
your sole criteria for making decisions is whether it's within the
letter of the law, right and wrong become irrelevant, and you quickly
get into spiritual difficulty. Your spirit will wither and die as
lawyers show you how to walk the broad legal path that leads to
spiritual destruction. Remember, lawyers are not spiritual
advisors, and if you follow their advice, you do it at great peril to
your spirit.
If you choose to do the right thing, you are still treading on dangerous
ground. Doing what you believe to be the right thing can lead you
onto the slippery slope of self-righteousness. Saying that you are
going to do the right thing has a good sound and feel. What could
be possible be wrong with doing the right thing?
Problems arise because people have a different understand of right and
wrong. It's a big world with many competing belief systems, and
people who believe the are right are killing each other every day.
People who believe they are right end up dividing the world into two
groups of people. Everyone who agrees with you is right, and
everyone who disagrees is wrong. The chances that you are always
right is zero.
If you choose to do the loving thing, you will navigate effortlessly
through the moral universe. Doing the loving thing is the way God
means for us to live. Love is the power of God at work in the
world, and ultimately it's the world's only hope.
Choosing to do the loving thing is usually straightforward. You
don't need lawyers to parse the truth for you and tell you about love.
If you can't figure out what is the loving thing, you can ask a five
year child, and he or she will explain it to you.
If you always do the loving thing, your spirit will grow strong in the
power of God's love, and your mistakes will be few and far between.
If you do the legal thing, few people will criticize you. If you
do the right thing, most people will applaud. If you do the loving
thing, God will say well done, and the world will be a better place
because you were here.
|
