solution

by

Conflicting Messages Often Hold Us Back

I hate getting conflicting messages from other people, don’t you? I just don’t know what they are trying to communicate.

conflicting messages often hold us back

Conflicting messages leave you feeling uncertain about the intentions, or what was really thought. 

Alanis Morissette wrote a song that was filled with conflicting messages. 

Another group I like wrote a song called, “Falling For The First Time.” The song has lines like, “I’m so cool, too bad I’m a loser. I’m so smart, too bad I can’t get anything figured out. I’m so brave, too bad I’m a baby.”

We can also be subtle when sending out conflicting messages like, “Your hair style is very interesting.” That comment leaves you wondering, “Are you saying you like it or you hate it? What are you trying to tell me?”

We communicate conflicting messages even when we are not trying to. 

Recently I was marking a talk given by a pastor. It was a good message. He had great content and interesting illustrations. But he spent the bulk of his message focussing on a minor idea in the Bible passage rather than the main idea in the text. 

In making my comments on the talk I found myself sending conflicting messages, that I liked the message but he emphasized the wrong thing. 

We are left to decipher the code of conflicting messages for them to be useful to us. That takes effort and often we don’t have the energy, the time or the will to try to decode them so we ignore them. Sometimes we focus on the negative and that fills us with emotion or prevents us from moving forward.

Recently we experienced a total eclipse in our city. My son-in-law Matt came to our home to watch it and brought his drone to take some video of the whole event. 

But when he went to turn it on, there was a message – a conflicting message. It read, “fly with caution” in yellow letters. Below that it read, “can’t take off”. 

Well, how do you fly your drone with caution if you can’t even get the thing airborne?

I had some recollection of this happening to me in the past so I pulled out my drone and set it up. And I got the same messages. I was pretty certain that two years before there was a work around, yet no matter what menu item I clicked, I could not find a way to dismiss the “can’t take off” message.

So we shrugged our shoulders and didn’t use our drones for the eclipse. 

Those conflicting messages bugged me and the next day I investigated further. I set up my drone on our back deck with those two messages flashing on my screen. I tried to take off anyway. 

As soon as I did, another screen came up with a series of questions and check boxes. I clicked on the check boxes, entered my phone number and received a code. When I entered the code, immediately the “can’t fly” message went away and I could take off.

We just needed to be persistent working through the conflicting messages to unlock the drone.

Here’s the thing: God’s conflicting messages to us are that He loves us very much but, because we have sinned, He can’t have anything to do with us. It’s so good that God also provided a solution, if we will persist to unlock it. God sent Jesus, His Son, to die on the cross to pay for our sin, so that we can experience God’s love. I encourage you to persist and unlock the love God has for you.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: What conflicting messages have held you back? Leave your comments and questions below.

Subscribe to my blog and receive posts like this one to your email.

by

I Finally Found A Solution To Flossing

For a long time, I’ve been searching for a permanent solution to a small supply issue. I think I might have finally found the right product.

I like my dentist – in fact he’s a friend of mine and we golf together. However, I don’t like going to see my friend when he is working in his office … especially when I’m sitting in one of his chairs.

I’m, therefore, a big fan of flossing my teeth to help cut down on things he might find wrong with my teeth when I visit him.

The problem with flossing is that I can never get the floss to those back teeth of mine.

My fingers are too big to get that little, white string to my wisdom teeth way at the back. It’s possible that I don’t have a big mouth, but I’ve never been accused of that.

For me, a flossing solution has always been to use an apparatus to reach those hard-to-get-to teeth. Over the years I’ve used several different kinds.

I started with a big “Y” shaped instrument that worked for many years until I couldn’t find them in stores any more.

Then I found a version of that apparatus that came with dental floss built into it. I actually came to like this one better and had no issues for years … until again they didn’t sell them in stores any more.

Right around that time, a family member found a gazillion of the first type I used at a dollar store and bought them for me.

Not too long after that I happened to come across a quantity of the second type … I bought the store out.

For several years I kept using these products until recently I broke the last one.

Trying to find something similar and suitable has been difficult.

I think the manufacturers felt they needed something that would break more easily – the old types lasted too long. They want to make more money.

Well, everything I’ve tried is horrible! … until a week ago when Lily brought home a pack of single-use flossers that are the same shape and style as my old ones. They aren’t perfect, are a little flimsy, but they work.

Many of the other types are shaped in a way that you pretty much have to put your fist in your mouth to reach your back teeth.

With some, the floss is so weak that it breaks after using it between a few teeth. Sometimes the floss isn’t tight enough to get in between some teeth.

This new style, however, keeps most of my hand out of my mouth and the floss stays tight, even getting between those molars.

In the long run, the manufacturers win by getting me to spend more money on flossing … but having an option that works for me is worth it.

Here’s the thing: Sometimes we like things the way they are. We are satisfied with our life, or our relationship with God, and we don’t see the need for it to change. However, God wants to stretch us and go deeper with us and that does require change on our part. It might not be comfortable at first, but don’t resist. Move towards where God is stretching you or how He wants to go deeper with you. In the end, it will be worth it.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you been holding on to that you should let go of? Leave your comments below.