It Starts With You!

Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other’s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace. For there is one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future.

 

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one God and Father of all,
who is over all, in all, and living through all.

~Ephesians 4:2-6 

As you know, I like to think.  Not just think, but contemplate.  Contemplation is exploratory thinking.  You take a thought and you explore it; you look at it from as many possible perspectives as possible; you turn it over and over in your mind; you touch every crevice and edge; you delve into the every corner.  

Well....I started contemplating Morale. And guess what I discovered?  Morale starts with me!  Good morale is MY decision!  Bad morale is MY decision!  I cannot always control my circumstances, but I can control my responses to my circumstances.  

Look at the words Paul writes to us...."Always be HUMBLE and GENTLE."  Does it say always be ticked off and aggravated because I don't think things are being done the way I want?  Absolutely not!  

"Be PATIENT with each other..."  REALLY?  Do we do that? I'm not always so good at doing that, but I am learning and trying.  Be patient..."making allowances for each other's faults."  Will this one punched me in the forehead!  I am not only am supposed to be patient with others, I am supposed to make allowances for them too!  WOW!  

And just when I am ready to punch the Venerable Apostle in the face, "making every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit."  Well now....if we are to be united in the Spirit [of God] then we are to be completely honest with each other.  If you ask my opinion, I should respect you enough to tell you the truth, even if it's not what you want to hear.  If I tell you only what you want to hear then THAT is proof that I have NO respect for you.  We lie to those we have no respect for.

Paul is reminding us that WE are either uniting or dividing.  We are either part of the same body or we are the cancer within the body.  WE must choose which we will be; honest and truthful, even if the truth is inconvenient or dishonest because it will get us what we think we want.

Bottom line: We CHOOSE to our morale!