Problem Solving

For quite sometime now, I have been trying to live a stress free life. Obviously stressful things occur quite frequently, but my goal is to not let it get to me. I got to the point where I was tired of anxiety and stress. It typically was silly, because once I accomplished my mission, I realized it was not so bad to begin with. Now with prayer, strength from the Lord, and remembering past lessons, I do a fairly decent job of remaining calm. I still have my moments, but God has really helped me in these efforts.

Well today a problem came up. It was the kind of problem where I was between a rock and a hard place. Every solution I was coming up with seemed to have another problem attached to it. I must admit instead of asking for God's help, I teared up. I will finish my tale, but to help me along, I found some quotes.

Mary Kay Ash said, "For every failure, there's an alternative course of action. You just have to find it. When you come to a roadblock, take a detour."

I could not agree more. I am a firm believer in where there is a will there is a way. My mind started sifting through compromises I could make to satisfy all sides in my situation.

Theodore Roosevelt said, "Got a problem? Do what you can where you are but with what you got."

Of course one BIG thing I have is God on my side, but as my mind worked on the problem, I began to think that there was something I could do, without setting myself up or the other party for further stress and worry. Then BAM it came to me. A simple solution, where everyone wins including some who were not involved to begin with. Now this solution will require a little extra time and energy on my part, but God has me here in this place. Solutions to our problems may bring up some inconvenience, but if we force fight for our way, others will be inconvenienced. The other party came and spoke to me in love and has always been a big help to me. That person has troubles of their own, so the least I could to was find a way to solve their immediate problem, before thinking of myself.

I don't say all this to brag on myself. I shed some tears of this and thought selfishly at first. Then I remembered how annoyed I get when others force their problems on others selfishly. I see it a lot. My fear was that if I did not seek for a compromise or something of that sort, I would become hypocritical.

Henry Ford sums it up quite well, "Most people spend more time and energy making problems than trying to solve them."

In order to solve your problems, you may have to give up of yourself. In the end it will be well worth it. God can use it to stretch you, and you will save yourself a lot of heartache. Of course not every solution will be easy to come by every time. So in these cases remember....

Psalm 121:2, "My hope cometh from the Lord who made heaven and earth."

As a fairly new lover of math, yay for problem solving!

Murmurings and Disputings

Philippians 2:14 - "Do all things without murmurings and disputings."

The more I ponder the different issues I see in life, the more I realize how selfish I as a human being can be. This past school year I have really tried to practice self-control and stop complaining. This is not something that comes easy to be as I am a selfish human being who wants things my way and life to be easy. Of course, it does not work that way.

I really hate to other people complain about certain things. Sadly, the things I hate to hear complaints about tend to be the things that I myself complain about. Did I mention how much I cannot stand hypocrisy. This always makes me think of what Jesus said in Matthew 7:5, "Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote of thy brother's eye."

You see, I can get all fired up about others who complain, but what about myself? Until I can control my own thoughts and tongue, I cannot talk about anyone else. I realized that even when I do vocalize my complaints, the thoughts running through my head are just as bad. When you consider I am a poor college student, I really am not bad off. I have been given so much, yet it never seems to be enough. I need to stop complaining and be grateful for what I have. Everything could always be so much worse.

I was inspired to write this post after seeing an event some friends were having at their college. They are having a no food complaints day at school. I know here at my college that a lot of us complain about our food choices. I always hate when people do this in front of the cooks, but the other college made a good point - we could really be fed poison and rotting vegetables, but we are not. So even if I do not vocalize my complaints in front of the cooks, my heart attitude is not right. I may be paying a lot of money for it, but if I was being fed top class gourmet food, it would be a lot more money. Anyway, this is just one example of my complaining issues yet to be conquered. It will be a constant battle, but I hope to be more grateful as well as work on my own attitude rather than complaining about others. What a vicious circle! God is always good through it all, and my heart is happy.