I can’t do that!

Words have power, the things we tell ourselves have power. I remember it taking years to convince a friend that he is not a loser. And part of what he was telling himself, was that he could never hold a job down. When I eventually did convince him that his lie had become a self-fulfilling prophecy, his response was “That’s evil isn't it?” He has now been holding a job down for several years!

The part about the self-fulfilling prophecy, is that if you believe your are a loser and that you can never hold a job down, then you are not likely to give your all in any job you do land! The point is, if you are going to lose the job anyway, why bother doing your best? It’s subtle, since we don’t realize the lies we are telling ourselves. The point is that if we knew we were believing a lie, we wouldn’t believe it. Initially my friend kept telling me “But it’s true.” And he could give me all kinds of evidence in terms of the jobs he had not been able to keep.

I came to this post because of a lie I had been believing. I have had a love-hate relationship with the computer for years. And I was telling myself “Every time I try to do something on the computer, it goes wrong.” At some level this was a good thing, good for the humility when you need to ask help from a 5-year-old! But what I was telling myself had become a self-fulfilling prophecy! It came to a head this week. After about four hours of total frustration on my part, in spite of all the help I was receiving from others who were more savvy than I, we were still unable to get the USB camera to work on conference video calling. With help I came to the realization that I had allowed my frustration to interfere with my ability to problem solve! After this realization I solved the problem afterwards all by myself (aren’t you proud of me :) )?

Father, who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks? I thank You Lord, that in You all things are possible. I am wondering this morning Lord, just how many of us, and how often we limit ourselves because of the lies we believe. I want to thank You this morning Lord, for bringing things to a head this week. It enabled me to see that what I was experiencing was inconsistent with the abundant life You call us to. And in seeing this I came to You to help me figure it out, and You did! Truly Lord in You, all things are possible. And I give You all the honour and glory and praise again this morning in Jesus Name Amen