Vince Deagler

hi everyone.  have you noticed any of the economic hysteria these days???  even those of you least interested in politics probably haven’t been able to escape the coverage of the “debt” deal and subsequent downgrading of our credit worthiness as a nation from AAA to AA+ by standard and poors.  now before you zone out, let me assure you this will not be an economic/political rant.  but i do want to look at what is happening as an illustration of sorts that has very real practical value for all of us who have or ever will experience problems.  i assume that includes all of us.

let me start with a simple point.  when a problem presents itself, what should be priority 1?  if you thought solution, i agree.  here’s the problem.  we know this instinctively, but we often do not act that way.  all too often assigning blame and winning the argument trumps solving the problem.  using this approach rarely, maybe never works.  so what if you assign blame and/or win the argument if the problem still persists?  what was accomplished by that?  yet all to often that is what we do.  so, as an action step, may i suggest that when we personally find ourselves in the situation where a problem has presented itself in our lives, we respond with a straightforward solution oriented approach.

now with that in mind, in light of all that’s happening around us politically and economically may i suggest 3 steps we absolutely should not take.  #1 do not fall into the trap of denial.  standard and poors just downgraded us, after months of warning they were going to do just that if we did not get our long term debt under control.  surprisingly the president gave a speech yesterday where he actually said despite the downgrade standard and poors assigned to us as a nation, that we are and always will be AAA.  that is called denial.  i can’t do much of anything about that, but i can sure point out the folly of such thinking.  will our debt problem ever be solved if we do not think we have a debt problem?  will any problem ever be resolved until we admit we do in fact have a problem.  that is the value for us today.  we all have problems, it is an inevitable part of life.  solutions begin to develop when we acknowledge yes this is a problem, and i am in some way responsible for it and responsible to solve it.

#2 do not fall into the trap of blame shifting.  i have heard the vast majority of those who lead us blame our economic woes, our debt problem, the downgrade on everyone but themselves.  this is understandable, it goes back to the earliest days of human history.  as soon as god confronted adam’s sin, he blamed the woman that god had made.  when god confronted eve, she blamed the serpent.  it is always easier to blame others.  and yes there are actually times when we experience problems that really weren’t our fault.  but that is not even close to true here.  the politicians who have spent too much and therefore borrowed too much created this problem.  they are the ones who are responsible to fix it (although that is simply insane, letting the people who created the problem try to solve it makes no sense to me, but that is the system we are stuck with at the moment)  have they solved anything?  sadly no, they were too busy blaming others for the problem.  with all due respect, they look and sound foolish doing this…like children busting out the age old cry “but he/she started it…”  let me suggest, every time you and i engage in blame shifting we look and sound just as silly.  and worse still, the problem will never be resolved by blame shifting.  so lets learn a lesson from our leaders, don’t blame shift.

#3 is very similar, do not insist on making excuses.  as you know, i grew up back east.  i tend to be blunt.  an old saying that resonates with me is “excuses are like rear ends, everybody has one”.  have you ever seen a problem solved through excuse making?  i have not.  in fact, solomon warns us against excuse making in the book of proverbs when he says “he who covers his sins will not prosper…only he who confesses and forsakes his sin will find mercy”.  excuse making is simply a common method of covering  our faults.  no matter what the problem is, i have yet to meet one where i could honestly say one party is 100 percent guilty and the other party 100 percent innocent.  experience tells me there are many who contribute to a given problem.  because that is true, we need to do a few things.  i must own my contribution to the problem no matter how great or small that may be.  i must focus on changing me, how i think, what i’m saying, doing.  this is the heart of confessing and forsaking.  as an added thought, i must trust the other involved parties will do the same because the reality is i cannot change them and if i try i will meet stiff resistance, defensiveness, and make things worse.  do you see how our leaders are violating these principles?  do you see how things are getting worse?  do you realize how often you and i act just like them?  ouch!  that hurt!  i know, it hit me before it ever hit you.  again there is a great lesson for us right here.  do not make excuses, instead own your contribution to the problem, roll up your sleeves and begin the hard work of change.

i wish i could hold up our leaders as positive examples.  that is the biblical model of leadership.  we are called to be like christ.  paul challenged those he led to follow him as he followed christ.  he instructed timothy to be an example of what a follower of christ is like.  leaders are to first be proven competent and worthy.  sadly our leaders are more a reflection of the pharisees of christ’s day.  christ warned that they knew how to talk the talk, but failed when it came time to walk the walk and therefore they should not be followed.  but even their negative example has value, as do our modern political leaders.  the lessons are quite simple.  1.  when a problem presents itself, priority one should be to solve it.  2.  do not fall into the trap of denial, blame shifting, and excuse making.  by doing this you will still have problems, but they will not stand a chance because we can do all things through christ, he will give us the strength.  thanks for reading.  blessings.  vince