Back to believing the best and traffic court

1 Corinthians 13:7b in the amplified version says this,”Love is ever ready to believe the best of every person” Really? In that context, how many people do you love? Yeah-- me too. You see, I’ve been hurt before and I often find myself kind of shored up so that I won’t be hurt again. That means, it feels safer for me to prepare for the worst in people rather than believe the best. God what about that? (listening) Hmmm the sense I have is that people rise to our expectations. I think that’s true… so does that mean that when I prepare for the worst, the worst comes out in people? (listening) Ouch! I know that’s true, I remember learning that concept while raising my children. If you believe in your children, and truly work to put your trust in them (which sometimes means confronting dishonesty in a way that brings resolve) they live up to your expectation of being trustworthy. Sometimes my kids mess up, but I believe they don’t want to. There is no greater gift you can give your children than that.

I teasingly practice this passage when we are driving and someone who is obviously in a hurry cuts in front of our car. I have replaced that exploitive of exasperation with something like, “Well, their wife must be having a baby in the back seat” lol!

It is possible! I once went to traffic court to contest my own speeding ticket. ( I had a lame excuse) The man ahead of me was from an eastern block country. He and his pregnant wife were in America on a visa. While here his wife went into labor, he took her to the hospital but was refused admittance because he had forgotten her visa. In a panic he left her in the waiting room and raced home. On the way back to the hospital, he was pulled over and cited for speeding. The poor man was a wreck. He didn’t know what to expect from an American court. It was comically sad. (Hopefully hospitals have learned something since then!) The judge sent him rejoicingly on his way and then turned to me and asked, “Can you beat his story?”

I was thinking about ANTs (automatic, negative thoughts), how ANTs effect our health and well being, and believing the best. There is so much written in scripture to protect us. Perhaps believing the best of people is a gift to both the one believing the best, and the one who is given the benefit of the doubt.

Believing the best instead of fearing the worst

Yesterday was another warm day it feels like spring around here and my crocus are blooming w00t! Three days ago there was still significant snow in my yard. Yesterday, I planted seeds in the garden. (happy dance!) I love getting my hands in the dirt. It is a celebration, a joining with all God’s little ones tending His garden.

I totally enjoy winter too, well until about February which is the peek of winter in the north. After February we still have 3 more months where it could snow. Easter is notorious for bringing on big snow storms. That’s when it gets old. It’s like the snow gets old too. After February it’s no longer a pure white, there are layers of sticks, leaves and grunge in it as it starts to recede. All along the roads there are piles of leaves and sand that block out the fledgling grasses and greenery. This place between winter and spring is just plain ugly, cold and sad. I’m sure we will get more snowy weather and it is set to turn cold again soon but I will enjoy knowing I have seeds tucked into the ground that are starting to think about popping out.

All that puts a picture in my head I wish I could explain. People have winters and springs in their lives. It’s not like one big season where your beginning is spring and your end is in winter. Sometimes lives start out in winter and end in spring. People can be very cruel to children and if a child finds no place of comfort it makes for an icy, cold beginning. But that beginning doesn’t have to define their end.

People can be very cruel in general. Too many are preoccupied in finding fault. In 1 Corinthians 13:7 there is a line translated in the Amplified version, “love is ever ready to believe the best of every person.” That speaks of trust, not just in the people being “loved” but also in God’s ability to redeem. It’s somewhat easy to believe the best in a person when they are looking their best, but that’s not the time when believing the best is most needed. In my experience I have found that the “ugliest” times are after the long winter snows have melted and spring has yet to show its effect. People look just as drab and full of debris after a long winter fight as my northern neighborhood looks right now. Pre-spring times are not the time to say, “You are not going to make it if you don’t clean yourself up!” That’s the time to plant seeds in the garden and do a happy dance. That’s the time to anticipate the spring that you believe is coming… that is if you believe the best instead of fear the worst in people.