Sharing Resources to Help You Grow Personally, Professionally & Financially

Sometimes it helps to get a little dose of encouragement—along with a good cup of coffee!—to start the day.

Hopefully the message below will help you get off to a good start for the week.  Please feel free to forward the newsletter on to others that you think would benefit from the content.

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Understand

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When Not Understanding Becomes an Opportunity for Growth

Anyone who spends any time around me knows that I have a natural thirst for knowledge. I’m much more of a “thinker” than a “feeler,” so it should come as no surprise that when something doesn’t make sense to me, my go-to phrase is, “I just don’t understand.”

Just this week, I had a conversation with my wife about something that I found puzzling. As I was retelling this conversation to a friend, I repeated my usual line, “I just don’t understand.” My friend, however, quickly pointed out that this might not be the best thing to say. Apparently, for some people—especially those who are more in touch with their emotions—the situation does make perfect sense. To them, my words could unintentionally suggest that there was something wrong with the situation, or worse, with my wife’s perspective. That hit me like a ton of bricks. Ouch.

As I reflected on that exchange, I realized something deeper. When I say, “I don’t understand,” what I’m really saying is that I feel the need to know everything. It’s like I’m trying to play God, trying to control and categorize every thought, action, and situation. Ouch again.

The truth is, there are aspects of life that simply defy comprehension. And that’s OK. Just because something doesn’t fit within my rational framework doesn’t make it wrong or flawed. It just is.

If I want to grow, and let’s be honest, I really do, I need to accept that there will be times when I won’t understand. And guess what? That’s perfectly fine. The silver lining? I’ve become aware of this tendency in myself. The downside? Well, I’m still figuring out what to do about it—though I do see the irony in the fact that I don’t fully understand that, either (yes, I know, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher!).

Moving forward, I’ve set a personal goal: to stop relying on the “I don’t understand” refrain. Instead, I want to use those moments of confusion as invitations to deepen my connection with God. I suspect this will be a very long journey of connecting, but it’s one I’m willing to take.

That brings us to this week’s question:

• Are you willing to leave the understanding in God’s hands and focus on living your life in a loving manner?

Thanks for sharing a bit of your time with me this Monday morning.  

Have a great week!

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Blog post from this past week:

Monday Morning Motivation - Win