Where’s Your Mindset?
I am small, but He is great; It’s better to realize this early rather than late…
This could also be titled, Are We on the Same Page? While waiting for a reply on a comment this morning I came across this piece that follows (from a site called (FARM LIFE) Farm Life
During World War II, fighter planes would come back from battle with bullet holes. The Allies found the areas that were most commonly hit by enemy fire. They sought to strengthen the most commonly damaged parts of the planes to reduce the number that was shot down.
A mathematician, Abraham Wald, pointed out that perhaps there was another way to look at the data. Perhaps the reason certain areas of the planes weren’t covered in bullet holes was that planes that were shot in those areas did not return. This insight led to the armor being re-enforced on the parts of the plane where there were no bullet holes.
The story behind the data is arguably more important than the data itself. Or more precisely, the reason behind why we are missing certain pieces of data may be more meaningful than the data we have. Don’t only listen to what is being said. Listen more to what is not being said.
***
This is the end of the piece but not the end of the thought. I’ve written this before, I’ve thought it before, but it’s a hard goal to reach. The goal of reading someone’s heart.
I have at times…too many times sadly…imputed to other people their motives as to why they have done what they did.
I have also wondered why other people didn’t read my mind as to what I’d want or what I’d like, or why I did what I did. And they do tell women not to hint to their significant others what their wishes are but we do it anyway.
It’s a real tough call on some things because sometimes there are things best left unsaid. We can’t recall the unkind, the thoughtless, the hurtful things that should not be said.
On the other side, sometimes we need to ask as my daughter did back in the day. It was right after our last child was born and Jenny was doing most of the fill-in cooking.
There were a couple of times she began a supper meal only for me to say something like, we should have had such and such—whatever I had been planning on fixing.
At that juncture she began asking, I was planning on this for a meal, what did you have in mind? Who would have thought—just ask.
As a writer, many of my writings come from giving people their thoughts and reasons. That works in the what-if world and it can make interesting stories.
There is an interesting theory that all people have an inner happening that takes place within their first five years of life. This—in theory—inner happening creates within the person the lie which they will never be able to escape.
I reject that theory. Not that there aren’t parts that are true, not that there aren’t people for whom it may come true. However, we are all capable of honesty and truthfulness and are able to overcome circumstances put on us by others or inflicted by ourselves.
I may be paraphrasing this but it goes somewhat like this: I am not what I ought to be…not what I want to be…but I am not what I used to be, nor with God’s power what I will be.
“Romans 8:
37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
38 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
