The Tweety Bird Effect

My lifestyle doesn't afford much opportunity to cultivate friendships. I'm on the road a lot. When I'm not I usually seek a quiet place with natural scenery. It massages my psyche.

However, along the way I've met many precious souls. As far as attention goes. I very much enjoy positive feed back. It's a real blessing. It's normal and good I think to desire positive feed back, it's confirmation we are doing or saying something of value.

When my focus is on the Lord, and, I feel His joy and presence I count that as positive feedback, confirming that, I'm walking rightly. With people it's a little more complicated. I try not to be offended when someone reacts in the negative. I used to be defensive, but, I'm learning.

The strangest thing is no matter what you do there will always be opposition. I remember praising God for something he did for someone, and, bragging on God about it. Then I ran into some people who's response was "what about all those other people who God didn't save?" They were sort of "anti-miracle-minded" which was weird. They were religious but didn't believe in miracles today. I was a bit flabbergasted that someone would try to cast a shadow on a documented miracle. They actually tried to turn the event into a negative.

My conclusion is not to worry about people who object to my point of view. However, to be considerate of people's sensibilities. Last night I was talking to a fellow who, clearly had a spiritual perspective, however, certain topics he didn't want to discuss. He was a very pleasant, high energy fellow. Strong Christian convictions, etc., but certain topics regarding the supernatural simply disturbed him.

This guy was unusual in that he was well aware of the reality of such things but discussing them was off limits. His response was not to look at me side long but, to very honestly, directly in a totally non offensive manner, say, "I do not like talking about those kind of things." Instead we talked about stand up comedians of all things. He was so high energy that almost any topic would have been interesting to discuss with him.

He is such high energy and of such good will! Reminds me of this greeter I saw at a Wall Mart. She nearly shouted at everyone who walked through the door. "Hello! Welcome to Wall Mart! I hope you have a wonderful shopping experience!" She did this in such a disarming manner as to cause almost everyone to smile.

Upon leaving I asked her what it was that made her so happy. With a great big smile and that booming voice she exclaimed "It's Jesus!" Without missing a beat she returned to her greeting people, "Hello! Welcome to Wall Mart..."

I like what you said about the woman who said Jesus made her happy.Hallelujah.