A few weeks ago, I listened to a sermon by Pastor Damon Thompson and it struck me to my core. He talked about beloved identity, being close enough to God so that he can love you, the misunderstanding of God's judgement and so much more. One of the things that has really stuck with me was the idea of Responsibility. The meat of what he said was that nothing is really our responsibility, but we have been given the ability to respond.
Since hearing this, I have been applying it to my own life and my growing/healing process. While doing so, I have also been observing people. The more I study people and their natural or daily behaviors, I understand this concept more and more. People tend to look at responsibility as problematic. It is often seen as a burden.
What would happen if we stopped looking at the things in our life as a series of loads we have to carry?
What if we seen every circumstance whether good or bad as an opportunity to demonstrate our capability to respond to circumstance using our abilities?
Conceiving a child at a young age,
Being hurt/abused by a family member or friend,
Receiving a new job requiring a higher work ethic,
There are tons of examples. The fact is, these things happened to you. They don't make you, neither should they burden you. That does not go to say that these things do not have an emotional effect on you. The problem lies when we add more emotion to the situation by giving it too much weight. You can absolutely acknowledge that raising a child will be difficult, that healing is a process, or that you may need to take your new success one day at a time until you can find your grove. Acknowledge and identify it, then do the work.
You have the ability to respond, but how you respond is a choice.
- Demetria LaDia (Meach Preach)