Little Chats With God

Posts Tagged ‘consideration’

“If a man loudly blesses his neighbour early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.” Proverbs 27:14Proverbs 27:14
English: World English Bible - WEB
14 He who blesses his neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, It will be taken as a curse by him.

WP-Bible plugin (NIV)

Blokes really are dumb sometimes, Lord. My friend’s husband recently woke her up at 3 o’clock in the morning to wish her happy 36th wedding anniversary. He was lucky to live to see the sunrise of his 37th year!

Why is it, Lord, that so often when we try to do something nice for someone, what we end up doing is something that would be nice for us rather than something that would be nice for them? Like the bloke who buys his wife power tools for birthday presents, or the woman who thinks that a really great night out for hubby would be to take her to see a chic flick?

Then there’s the “A type” personality who drags his friend through a 4-week holiday of non-stop action and adventure, when all his “C type” friend wants is to spend the whole 4 weeks quietly napping under a palm tree.

Of course, I have such incredible good taste that it would be impossible for anyone of equally good taste not to enjoy the things that I enjoy. But sadly, Lord, it seems You made us all different, and that there are lots of people out there who don’t share my good taste. For that matter, I guess there are lots of people out there who would even question the “goodness” of my taste (though I can’t for the life of me understand why, and of course they are wrong!)

Seriously, though, Lord, are we really so caught up in ourselves that we are not really interested in giving other people the things – or the experiences – that would be pleasing, interesting or exciting to them? Are we so self-centred that life always has to be about “us”, even when we are pretending that it is about the other person?

More to the point, am I?

Lord, help me to look through other people’s eyes, to see their needs but also their likes and tastes and desires. And when I come to give, whether it be material things, time, or experiences, help me to give to where they’re at, not to where I am.