I get together a lot with friends
and then we each bring something to eat and enjoy the time
together. Now obviously there are always very delectable things to
eat. I need to restrain myself, because I realize that I don't feel
so good if I eat the wrong food. I do eat some of it, but not as
much as the others. And to tell you the truth they get annoyed with
me if I don't join them in tasting everything on the table. They
sometimes even take my plate and put an extra helping on it.
Now this made me think. Why are
they annoyed that I don't join them? And then I realized it is
because they feel guilty for eating everything but if we all join
in together, they feel better about it, because 'everyone is doing
it'. But if I don't join them, I remind them in my silence, that
actually this is not so good for them.
And that is so true for several
other situations in our lives. People want us to join them. They
want us to do what they do in order to feel better about what they
are doing. They don't appreciate individuality. I can name you
several situations in the places that I worked at, but I am sure
that you can name even more. It happens on a daily basis.
The other day we were returning
from holiday and there were a lot of 'left over' snacks that my two
boys didn't eat, like mini cheddars, Marie cookies, wafers etc. It
was still all fresh, so I put it all together into an airtight
Tupperware. A week later I opened the Tupperware and wanted to give
them some of it, and you know what, due to the cookies etc being
mixed together they lost their flavor. Everything tasted exactly
the same. If you didn't look and simply tasted it, you wouldn't
have been able to say which is which.
And so it is the same with the
company we keep. We should be careful with the company we keep.
Sooner or later we will 'taste' like them. People won't be able to
discern who we are if we are not part of the group. God created
each of us as a wonderful unique being; we do not need to follow
the herd. We should rather follow His Voice inside of us. We need
to do what is best for us, through His guiding Spirit.
Just a last thought on this
subject. If I was to follow my friends and eat everything on the
table presented to me, and my blood type/genes do not handle the
surge of sugar so well and I develop diabetes, what would they say
then? Where would they be when I need to go to the doctor
regularly, when I need to inject myself every day, when I go into a
faint if I don't eat properly? Sure they could support me, but at
the end of the day it is only I that will suffer and bear the
consequences. And this simply because I couldn't say no to them.
Apply this to your own unique situation and think about it
carefully before you follow the herd. You are too special to allow
them to take away your individuality and hurt you/your reputation
in the long run.
Father, give us the courage to
stand up against the crowd and only do what is pleasing to You. You
are the only One who knows what is best for us. We want to follow
Your divine guidance for our lives. In Jesus' Name. Amen