Jumping to the wrong conclusion is second nature.  When a call is promised and it doesn’t happen, when someone acts or says something that goes against our grain we often jump to horribly inaccurate conclusions.

That’s because we’re wired to view the worst that could happen as a first response..  We’re born with a protective fight or flight response to everything.  In a safety situation it’s wholly appropriate but, our emotional response programming doesn’t distinguish between safety and other events.

We might receive a promise of action or experience an unexpected event or a comment and we jump right to judgement mode.  That person’s a liar, or can’t be trusted or did that just to spite me.  It’s a normal reaction.

If we can condition our response to evaluate the best intention we can overcome some amazing errors.

Box Full of Kisses

Some time ago, a man punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree.

Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.”

The man became embarrassed by his overreaction earlier, but his rage continue when he saw that the box was empty. He yelled at her; “Don’t you know, when you give someone a present, there is supposed to be something inside?”

The little girl looked up at him with tears in her eyes and cried;

“Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty at all. I blew kisses into the box. They’re all for you, Daddy.”

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged for her forgiveness.

Only a short time later, an accident took the life of the child.

Her father kept the gold box by his bed for many years and, whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and remember the love of the child who had put it there.

Moral of the story: Love is the most precious gift in the world.

When we respond with love we respond with the best of intentions.  This doesn’t mean that the worst couldn’t or didn’t happen.  It just means that we gave love a chance first.

Share the love.

Here’s to a great week!

John Whitt