Your Response

“When you can’t control what’s happening, you can control your response. Therein lies your power.” - Unknown

Your response is very important. We are faced with many situations and people who try to invoke a reaction out of us. But when we react, we put the control in their hands. Proverbs 12:16 says “Fools show their annoyance at once, but the prudent overlook an insult.” It’s not just anger or annoyance. We can leap into worry and fear or sadness at the first instance then react to it. Especially when we are not thinking through what's happening, we are acting based on our feelings. However, responding requires us to pause and think and we keep the control and the power in our hands. Your response, therefore, is very critical.

I was once in a relationship where everything became an argument. It felt like the person was trying to antagonize me or aggravate me at any point that they could. At the time I could not see what was really happening because I was reacting from my emotions. I felt the need to prove that I wasn’t wrong. I felt the need to get angry and show that I do care or that this is very wrong. I was reacting to the actions of the situation and the person. I gave them all of my power at that point. Because of this, they knew what buttons to push to invoke a reaction out of me. They knew how to get me upset and then make me feel bad for getting upset. If this has happened or feels like it is happening to you it’s not fair. However, it taught me that I needed to learn to respond to situations and people. I needed to step away and understand what was happening and think of how I was going to then respond to the person or the situation. By doing this, I kept my power and I avoided many more arguments thereby saving my energy for more productive things. Reactions can suck the energy out of us, yet another reason it is not helpful to us in the end. 

Someone can make you mad but it’s up to you to allow them. When you say you make me so mad, you’re giving them that control. But when you walk away and choose not to react to what they’re saying or doing, you are the one in control of yourself. You’re not allowing them to take that power from you. This applies to other situations. Taking a look at our past it’s the same thing. We can react to our past or we can respond to it because it cannot be changed. What happened happened, so therefore, dwelling over the past does not help. But responding to what happened, learning the lessons and moving on is what we need to do. Maybe we don’t like where we are currently in life. Reacting to it does not help. Especially if that’s the only thing you’re going to do. We need to respond to it by bringing about a change.

The power is in your hands.

Maybe a situation comes up that makes us scared or worried or panicked. We can stay there and do those very things or we can respond by pausing and thinking and coming up with another plan and trusting God to help move us forward. You can think about your future and worry and hope everything works out; or you can respond by understanding that God is in control and He has our best interests at heart.

I’m not saying it’s going to be easy to do this either. Maybe to some it will be. But for those that it’s not, be patient with yourself. You are retraining your mind to behave differently. You are reminding yourself to pause when it’s been used to jumping. Once you’ve put your mind to doing something God will give you what you need to go all the way. He provides and guides. He loves you and wants what’s best for you. With the power in your hands guess what else your hands can be doing in that moment when put together. Sending a prayer up to God who then sends the power down to you to be the person you were made to be. So don’t give that power away. Save that energy. You have things to accomplish. Pause, respond and move on.