“It is how people respond to stress that determines whether they will profit from misfortune or be miserable.” - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi
Viktor Frankl was a Viennese neurologist when the ravages of World War II swept through Europe. Because he was Jewish, he was caught up in the Nazi war machine and shipped off to a concentration camp. During his nearly three years of captivity in various camps he observed many things about human nature. He paid particular attention to his own reactions and the reactions of others to the intolerable conditions and inhumanity of their Nazi captors. He wrote a breakthrough book about his experiences that has influenced millions of people titled, Man’s Search for Meaning.
Frankl describes the deplorable conditions of starvation, death, and the depths of despondency to which so many were driven during those dark days. He also observed something different about the mental make-up of those who were able to hang on and survive. The survivors, faced with the same terrible circumstances, made the decision to focus on hope instead of despair. They thought about what life was going to be like after the Holocaust and the contribution they would be able to make because of their survival.
During those difficult days, Frankl observed that humans are unique creatures in that we have the amazing ability to choose how we will respond to our circumstances. The situations in which we find ourselves are not determinative of how we think and feel about ourselves, or even about the world around us. We have the power to choose.
Frankl discovered a part of humanity inherent in us from the beginning. We are created in the image of God and one of the characteristics of the image of God is free will. God has endowed us with the ability to respond, not like robots with preset reactions, but as free agents in control of our thoughts, emotions, and actions.
Here’s the kicker. For many of us, we have been conditioned to live in a reactionary mode that minimizes our ability to make choices. We react to circumstances in kind. If the situation is negative, we react negatively. If there is stress, we get stressed out. But this is not God’s design for our best life. This is not the abundant life Jesus came to offer. By the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit we can re-train ourselves to lengthen the response time and insert our free will to make better choices. Jesus even said that when an enemy strikes us on the cheek, we’re to offer our other cheek. I don’t know about you, but I need to work on self-control to be able to follow Jesus’ direction in this respect! But God never, ever, tells us to do things he doesn’t empower us to do!
God wants us to make a contribution to the world, to his Kingdom, to his will being done on earth as it is in heaven. In order to do so, we must rise above our circumstances and choose to experience his presence and power and become the loving and joyful people he is calling us to be. We are free to choose.
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