Mark's Views, Perhaps — from behind my eyeballs
That’s how I felt.
Again. (Poor baby!)
Taken advantage of.
Taken for granted.
Used, in other words.
In a certain realm and in a certain service.
A certain “ministry,” if you will.
Used. And what do I get in return?
At a minimum, a link back? Nope.
At a maximum? Let’s just not go there.
Used. 🙄
So, tell me. Tell us all.
What is God’s designated response to feeling used?
Prove it from the Scriptures!
Thanks.
As I do six days a week, I went to a well-known payment processing site…and pondered the new graphic:
I thought of this right away:
For at the window of my house
I looked through my lattice,
And saw among the simple,
I perceived among the youths,
A young man devoid of understanding,
Passing along the street near her corner…
In the twilight, in the evening,
In the black and dark night.
And there a woman met him…
So she caught him and kissed him…
With her enticing speech she caused him to yield,
With her flattering lips she seduced him.
Immediately he went after her, as an ox goes to the slaughter…
Sad, isn’t it? I don’t ask that in a judgmental way. I ask it…sadly.
I still think of that when I go to that site. Sadly.
May God have mercy…redemptive, redeeming, restoring mercy…on men who seduce women and on women who seduce men. And those allowing themselves to be seduced.
And on me. I need that mercy also.
My intent is not to impugn the character of the two individuals pictured above. I’m just telling you I thought of the other two individuals mentioned in Proverbs 7.
Disclaimer: I modified the dimensions and corners of the graphic (and blurred out the text, of course).
Do you hate pride?
This is a bit of counsel I have learned the value of. It is not smart to slip into your conversation little boasts about yourself—the college you went to, the degrees you earned, the plum positions you held. First of all, it sounds proud and diminishes you ever so slightly in the eyes of the other person. Secondly, it sets a trap for your own feet, because eventually (think about it), if you develop a relationship with the person you are speaking to, he or she will find out your true measure. If you have presented yourself too highly, your fall in his esteem will be the worse.
If, on the other hand, you have wisely refrained from boasting, your new friend will be continually delighted with pleasant discoveries about you, which will be all the more pleasing to him because you did not brag at all.
That is so true, Andrée Seu. Thank you!
PS: Click her name to read the full piece. It’s short.
The writer of Proverbs describes an unwise person as “one who speaks like the piercings of a sword” (12:18). Our tongues can be like a multi-bladed Swiss Army knife when it comes to the variety of ways that we cut and destroy each other.
Unhealthy attitudes of anger, irritation, frustration, and impatience — even disappointment, stress, guilt, and insecurity — all contribute to our damaging speech. And as we cut with our words, we wound and divide friendships and relationships. It’s no wonder that the infamous list of seven things that are an abomination to the Lord includes anyone who “sows discord among brethren” (Prov. 6:16-19).
How do we stay off that list?
Since I didn’t write this, I shouldn’t just quote the whole thing, should I?
Here’s the rest: Cutting Remarks. Please read it.
Alternate title: How to Avoid Being Avoidable
I’ve been thinking for a while about how some people have a “knack” for alienating others. Or if not alienating them, at least building walls or burning bridges between them.
So if you’re one of those, here are some things you — yes, you — should avoid in order to not flunk the “Winning People” part of real living:
Is there more that should be said on so needful a subject?
Yup, I’m afraid so.
That’s what the Comments section below is about! 🙂
So if you want people to be around you or if you want people to look forward to being around you….listen up!
For all that I know (and for all that you know), some people treat being around you as something that must be done in order to “get it over with.”
Do you like being that kind of person?
Just askin’.
😉
PS: If you’re a Christian, this subject becomes even more important.
If your excuse is poor handwriting, flush that excuse. Or heave it out the window. Or cut it up into little pieces and mix them in with the dog’s food. Do something other than hang on to it!
With e-mail, text messaging, and instant messaging, a handwritten note is getting rarer and therefore more special.
[…]
66 percent of U.S. Internet users said email was their preferred channel for written communications between friends.
Every week, the average person receives 1.5 personal letters.
[…]
There is warmth in a handwritten note — it instantly makes the message more personal, creates a more intimate feeling, and makes the recipient feel more valued.
With e-mail and instant messaging, a handwritten note is getting rarer and therefore more special.
The full article is, well, fuller: A Note of Gratitude.
Have you ever felt that way about responding to something or someone electronically?
Blog, Twitter, email, Facebook, forum, IM, text message, chat — having the option and capability to hit Reply right away seems to impose an urgency to do just that.
Most times, such urgency is an illusion untethered from reality. “Most times” — not in a 51% sort of way, but more like a 92% sort of way, if you get my drift. Yes, at the risk of overstating my case, I suggest to you that the urgency of most digital communication is a pseudo-urgency.
I suspect that most of the time, succumbing to such false urgency has little consequence beyond social pressure, inner tension, and time consumption. (That all sounds like something far more than “little consequence”!)
That aside, giving in to such imaginary urgency has far weightier consequences when responding in circumstances that roil personal relationships, easily impacting them negatively.
So I urge you to grant significant weight to my five essential guidelines for digital communication:
Otherwise, figure on falling short of constructive dialogue.
Unless, of course, you’re just engaging in weightless, inconsequential back-and-forth techno-babbling because you can and because you don’t know what else to do and because you want to.
Then you need a different set of guidelines. 🙂