{"id":4191,"date":"2017-09-03T09:00:45","date_gmt":"2017-09-03T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4191"},"modified":"2017-07-23T22:55:12","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T03:55:12","slug":"choose-not-to-react-negatively","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/barbdahlgren.com\/?p=4191","title":{"rendered":"Choose Not to React Negatively"},"content":{"rendered":"

One More Year of Choices<\/em><\/p>\n

By Barbara Dahlgren <\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"While we may not be able to control everything that happens to us, we are still responsible for how we think, act, feel, and respond in any given situation. At times our choices may be limited, but we can still choose to \u201cact\u201d responsibly instead of \u201creact\u201d negatively. Will we respond with strength or weakness, courage or despair, love or hate? How we respond makes a big difference in our quality of life.<\/p>\n

When we \u201creact\u201d to what life throws our way, we allow circumstances and other people to determine our behavior. We let our emotions control what we do. Many times reacting is an auto-pilot response, resulting from previous programmed behavior. In other words, we don\u2019t really think about our responses, we just react subconsciously based on what we\u2019ve always done. Old habits die hard.<\/p>\n

However, when we \u201cact,\u201d we make a conscious choice. We have to actually think and evaluate each situation. Our goal should be to do what God\u2019s Word would have us do, not what we want to do or what we feel like doing. Therefore, each circumstance becomes a learning experience, helping us grow in grace and knowledge.<\/p>\n

Daily life is full of stress, frustration, and offense. What do we do when faced with a whiny kid, annoying spouse, or difficult boss? What do we do when we feel hassled? Do we lash out, blow up in anger, say hurtful things, or try to get even? Scriptures teach us that these are not healthy responses and will not produce positive results.<\/p>\n

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We can determine some of our responses by planning ahead.<\/p>\n

When we are stuck in a traffic jam, do we fuss, fume, and make ourselves miserable? Those are reactions that do not produce good fruit. When we drift into the habit of reacting, even minor irritants become monumental. We lose perspective. Since we all know traffic jams are inevitable, why not decide ahead of time how to act when they happen. Perhaps when a traffic jam occurs we could plan to listen to music, listen to a book on CD, count our blessings, thank God we aren\u2019t in the accident causing the jam, pray for the person who is, or meditate on Jesus\u2019 teachings.<\/p>\n

When someone is rude, do we react by being rude too? Do we say, \u201cAre you always so stupid or is today a special occasion?\u201d Or \u201cKeep talking and maybe someday you\u2019ll say something intelligent!\u201d God tells us how to deal with difficult people in Luke 32:32-36. If we internalize scripture, we can determine ahead of time that we will consciously choose to be gracious even when others are not. We will be courteous and respectful to everyone \u2013 friends and enemies.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a simple formula for learning how to act instead of react:<\/p>\n