Change: an inward battle and an outer reflection.
“Sometimes good men do bad things…”
“Sometimes good men do bad things…”
This came from one of Taylor Sheridan’s western line-up, if I recall correctly it’s a line in “Yellowstone” (more than likely a classic Dutton-ism).
It should be a bumper sticker somewhere just because of its truthfulness. The fact that when we do good things we are labeled ‘good’ people and, conversely, when we do bad things we’re just plain ole’ bad folk. Held with disdain and remorseful looks on faces if we’re the latter, as if we are inevitably bound for an unreturnable doom or chained down irreversibly in our diabolical state.
Why the dichotomy, why the split personalities, why the two wolves? The two wolves as depicted in a popular Native Indian wisdom tale of the presence of two wolves inside each and everyone of us: one of darkness and the other of light. As the story goes, when asked by the young child which one wins the ceaseless, ongoing fight, the elder turns to utter the sage, “the one you feed.”
Proving that we are more complex than two-dimensional black and white images (insert Freud), we are bursting with emotion, thought, and feeling that shape the actual image of who we are, at any given time. In essence, at your current junction, you are the self you are aspiring to be…Manifestation can occur if given enough time to realize these goals and ambitions.
And whether your current station is currently a dead end with job loss, death, or tragedy of a loved one, we are then easily propelled to seek retribution of some sort and therefore probably pursue a turbulent path, forging on with rage—hopefully temporarily. Conversely, if your life is brimming with provisions of enviable success in business, healthy family dealings, or enriching personal growth, we then choose a more uplifting and cheerful version of ourselves to match the pleasantness emanating from the windfalls.
Truthfully, you do not need to exert the same malevolent energy if your situations are grim and your life is in shambles, momentarily. For your actions are a choice but it seems that this is the usual course to assume. It’s no surprise that our surroundings and environments can dictate how we feel, for better or worse, which then parlays into how we act. In psychology, this is the "nature vs. nurture" debate: are we creatures of internal biological wiring with predispositions or are we molded entirely by our environment? A deeper discussion for another time.
Whichever 'cause' you tend to believe, we are definitely exposed to elements outside our control more often than not. Some are desired, most aren't, but how we choose to react and respond thus determines the self, the wolves within. It’s with that mindset this I offer you a pillow—of grace— to hold off on battering yourself more harshly than you ought. Humans do bad things, and humans do good things as well. And while the good is praised, the bad is frowned upon, and yet even in spite of the most revolting catastrophic unpleasurable act imaginable, it’s with great emphasis and appeal that I urge you to choose love— as your reaction. Because love begets forgiveness. And forgiveness heals.
I know this message came abruptly but it's a lesson we need to hear, and quite often...
“He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her.”(John 8:7 KJV). The cries of the crowd to slay the “harlot” may have been justified but Jesus introduced a new way to deal with the blemished lot. This world is a basket full of misfits and any contrarian ideology pointing otherwise is dumbfounded and sadly misguided. Any superfluous notions to justify and laud a perpetrator (an instigator of lies, deceit, or scandal, sound like someone?) is a beckoning call to re-evaluate one’s understanding of objective truth-God's standards- which is the framework for morality, ethics, and good judgement.
Against the murmurs of the people and their proposal to deny her freedom (moreso her life), Christ stepped in as the mirror for which we see our reflection in its true colors. Have we not committed wrongs and erred another? Are we sinless? Are the people on trial the only ones with guilt inside the courtrooms? With this mindset, one can come to a revelatory soberness where the soul realizes the level of hypocrisy. From there, guilt and shame arises, however, if one is genuinely repentant of their two-faced behaviour, the Father's grace is sufficient to pardon you and your misdoings, as He did with the harlot. You can be overtaken by the overcompensating grace of the Father. He has stored it in abundance on the backless shelves of eternity for you.
In that we were once slaves to sin, cast into a vast wilderness while being haunted by recurring thoughts of failure by replays of Adam & Eve’s pitiful apple affair, we are “sprinkled clean” (“and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.” Ezekiel 36:25 KJV) of all our infirmities and waywardness.
It is possible to be good, and it is possible to be bad. The choice is a determination of the decisions you make. And if you see faulty wires stemming from a brother or sister, before you pass judgement take the “plank out of thine own eye”(Matthew 7:5 NIV) before administering any corrective behavioral messaging, laced with love of course.
The vessel was worth saving and, as vessels of Christ, sometimes we load the wrong cargo. It’s ok, but once you find the bad weight, you can’t keep it on the ship. Discard it overboard immediately.
Another great analogy is if you have a flat tire you don’t trade your car in for another, you replace the tire.
We are to love and love deeply, though we err, and ever so egregiously at times. But who you are right now doesn’t have to be the person you can be in the next moment. A decided shift right now can be the affirmative action taken to place yourself in the direction to become the best version of you. Daily routines of 'good' habits become the building blocks of transformation. This is a process, a marathon, not a sprint. Continue to string along long periods of these then you're on your way—miles from where you stand.
Decide to do good. Determine to be better, and do better.
Decide earnestly with the leading and overpowering aide of the Holy Spirit to be the servant, missionary, father, mother, daughter, son, student, businessman, etc. you were destined to be.
Decide today to feed the right wolf.
Be blessed.
Onward