Abandoning ship seems to be the quickest and easiest way for us to deal with problems.
As human beings in our relationships, as well as human institutions, when things don't go our way, our ingrained fight-or-flight instinct causes us to walk away, close doors, or even run.
See, it would take actual C O U R A G E to stay and fight for something, to stick it out, to work through a conflict, to communicate through misunderstanding, to own up to our own shortfalls and mistakes.
But we're so focused on ourselves, our wants, our needs, and our time lines, that we fail to see the big picture. We fail to see the possibility of God's timing in each situation. We fail to see how our own actions of self-absorption may affect those on the other side of our perspective. And more often than not, we fail to offer grace, mercy, and forgiveness with anything other than our lip service.
Connection and community, if they're anything worth pursuing, are fluent in those three concepts.
We get hung up on ourselves, though.
It takes love to offer grace, mercy and forgiveness.
As long as I'm in the center of my universe, I don't care how you are affected by what I do.
As long as 'what I want' is my priority, then I cannot forgive how you may act or speak against that.
As long as my focus is on me, then I will continue to be offended by anything different than me.
As long as I am offended, I will refuse to see how I could have done anything wrong.
As long as I refuse to take any responsibility for my relationships, my relationships will continue to fail.
As long as perspective stays centered on my life and experience, then connection is impossible.
As long as we keep ourselves in the center of our concerns, love has no hold on us, and we are unable to offer grace, or mercy, or forgiveness. We will have no long term connections or relationships.
As long as I am the most important thing in my life, abandoning ship will always be the way I deal with anything that counters my worldview.
It takes courage to admit that you're not the center of the universe.
It takes courage to admit you did something wrong.
It takes courage to not be offended.
It takes courage to Love.
It takes courage not to abandon ship.
