July 9, 2022

ACCEPTANCE

I find myself saying to people, "Try praying for the grace to accept  that you can't accept some reality."

A boss is driving us crazy. We can't quit our job - and we feel ugly with so many negative feelings bouncing around in our belly about him.

These ugly feelings make us feel guilty. We inwardly say, "I shouldn't feel this way." We think, "I should be a better Christian. I should be able to forgive this person. I should be able to carry this cross."

But when we can't. we can get a double whammy - then a triple whammy: the inability to forgive, accept, and be patient with this person.

Compound feelings pound us like ongoing traffic or pounding waves hitting our beach.

What to do?

Obviously, the first step is to call, "Time out."

Get off the basketball court for a while. Breathe! Have a coach point out what's happening. Have a coach suggest something new to do.

The coach might simply suggest accepting everything that's happening - inside and out.

I might simply say, "Okay - oh this is what a traffic jam looks like. I can't get out of this right now."

The literature on dysfunctional people, situations, or families point out that dysfunctional people get us to become more dysfunctional. They can mess us up.

The thing to do is to watch the whole game as if you're sitting in the stands as well as if you're in the game.

Once we do that, laughter can happen, Acceptance can happen.

Solutions, no.

Acceptance, yes.