What a Wonderful World It Would Be

Someone cuts me off in traffic!  I'm annoyed because I have to lift my foot off the gas pedal, but doubly annoyed because I would never do that to someone else.  Someone complains about me behind my back and I find out.  I am sure that behavior is uncalled for, people should deal with problems face to face, I tell my neighbor, or rant on Facebook.  In fact, Facebook seems to have opened the door wider to the type of passive-aggressive communication that is, for the most part, socially acceptable.  After all, a passive-aggressive rant aimed at someone but not communicated to them, and done 'in front' of hundred of our friends receives more likes than a picture of bacon, or a silly cat video (85% of Facebook shares).

What if we all lived life by the rules we held others to?  Notice, the question isn't "What if everyone else lived by our rules?", which is how we often interpret it, but what if I lived by the rules that I mentally impose on others?  It is easy to sit back and think how the world would be a better place if everyone lived by my rules.  I see it in my kids all the time!  One child will come and say "But mom/dad! they are doing x/y/z thing wrong!"  Or they won't come and we can hear them correcting a sibling in the other room. We call them in and simply explain that the house would work best if everyone followed the rules of house, yes.  Then we ask "Whose behavior can you fix?"

"Whose behavior can I fix?"  A simple question, really.  That is why I like to ask it of my children.  During moments of clarity, I hear God's Word asking me that same question.  I often ask my kids, but I need it, too.  I need to ask my children.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to train and discipline them.  It is not a wrong question for me to ask of them.  But what if in life, I always asked myself that question?

A car pulls out in front of me, cutting me off.  Whose behavior can I fix?  I can slow my car down so as not to cause stress or injury to anyone in my vehicle or the vehicle that cut me off.  "But they ought to fix their behavior!", my mind tells me.  Our minds always want to tell us that one strange thing.  That others ought to change their behavior and everything will be all right.  But what if I lived by the rules I hold others to?  I accidentally cut someone off, but obviously they had plenty of time to slow down and did not have to tailgate me for the next 428 miles, unlike me when they cut me off.

By now, you may have noticed that my question isn't original, it is just rephrased.

"And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise."

- Luke 6:31

What if I live by the same rules I held others to?  Now if we could find a kind way to encourage one another to do it.  I would guess it would involve applying the principle to ourselves, and encouraging others when they apply it to themselves.  And then?  What a wonderful world it would be.