Whatever you are facing, whatever is challenging you, whatever is the obstacle in front of you… how you respond, or don’t, your attitude, and subsequent behavior will either make or break you. Perhaps not immediately, but it will continue to ‘speak’ into your life until you do face the results of your decisions and actions; and utilize those lessons or totally abrogate what they say to you. However, how you respond to your successes, your accomplishments, your triumphs, will make or break you too. Sound strange?
How can success break you? It can. Just as it is with problems, it all depends on how you respond and what you do with your success. Both trials and achievements can be temptations or the learnings and understandings can become attributes in your character. But we can become blind and puffed up when the successes focus us on the ‘wrong’ things – ourselves. Don’t misunderstand… being pleased with our accomplishments should spur us on, it should add to our foundation. Success breed confidence and that’s positive unless it makes us oblivious to all but ourselves.
Obviously, the point is you and how you respond… or attempt to deflect. Our attitudes provide part of the foundation to our character and Character with the capital C is totally in our hands. It is we who develop our character and continue to define, refine, develop who we are. You can blame no one for your character. So, what defines/describes your character when you are in situations that are difficult? Do any of these also influence when the situation is positive?
The make or break situation(s) are very important. And yes, if we make a mistake in our assumptions and subsequent reactions we will have the opportunity to discover a better ‘answer’. I have experienced that those lessons I don’t learn the first time seem to come around again. It is true that these situations aren’t totally ‘final’ in terms of our character development, but they do slightly handicap us until we take the time to refine ourselves. And when we discover we have deliberately, or not, meandered into make or break times, we always have the opportunity to let the Lord teach us what we need to know… and turn a ‘break’ into a ‘make’.
