People Are Weird
A girlfriend and I were chatting this past week. She’d had a bizarre encounter with a client who is also a friend. Let’s just say it was very stressful. In the end, actually, it was just plain weird. We both left the conversation shaking our heads.
We humans are an interesting lot. Sometimes, we even scratch our heads in wonder thinking, What just happened? “People these days are just crazy!” we often find ourselves saying out loud.
I’ve been reading in the book of Judges lately, and I have been reminded, this problem is not a new phenomenon.
I never cease to be amazed by the stories in that Old Testament book.(And believe me, there are plenty in there to leave you in wonderment.) One in particular, however, stood out to me recently.
The one I am choosing to chat about this week, however, goes like this…
Jephthah is the child of a man via his prostitute.
This particular man also has a wife, who has children with him.
Therefore, Jephthah has step brothers and sisters. The siblings, obviously, don’t want their illegitimate brother to get any of the inheritance, and they are very clear about that point. So much so, that they basically chase him out of town until he goes to live elsewhere. While there, in elsewhere, he accumulates a little band of brothers.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, so to speak, the enemies of his people have descended, and the elders of the town run to find Jephthah and call him back to come and save them.
J’s response?
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
[Well, probably not those exact words, but pretty close.]
Anyway, long story short, Jephthah, the man warrior, takes on the bad guys, goes to war with them, and wins. Yay! Right?
No, not so fast.
While there should have been singing and dancing in the streets, instead, fellow tribesmen, from his people, hunt down Jephthah to chew him out. Whuh?
Yep…they are mad because Jephthahv didn’t come and get them and ask them to go to war with him.
ummm….seriously?
He reminds them that he did indeed ask them to join him, but they refused!
No words.
So, here’s the deal, in my humble opinion:
1. We humans are greedy and self-centered at our core. It just comes, sadly, all too naturally. (AKA J’s siblings)
2. We, as people, love to complain when troubles come. And when they do, we go and try to find people to help us out of our situation, or at the least, to take our side.(Like J’s howmetown when they found themselves in trouble)
3. When a person does step in, takes charge, and is victorious, we tend to get jealous. It seems we all want to be part of the winning team. (Victor over the enemy/the one who solves the problem and gets the praise and attention is suddenly our best friend.)
Point of the story?
We have’t evolved much, really, as a people since ancient times. Human nature (something we can’t see or touch) seems to be replicating itself very well.
Tip?
We shouldn’t be shocked or surprised, by bad behavior or painful circumstances when they arrive. Stuff happens.
Solution?
There isn’t a pill you can take to cure it or a vaccination to keep it away. It requires something non-physical to combat this non-physical problem. We’ll talk about that more in the coming days. But for a preview click here.
And there you have it; your everyday thought for your upcoming everyday week.
– S.
To read the story mentioned above for yourself, simply click here.
Email me at: info@stephaniehuffman.org
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