A New Question

…you should aspire to live a tranquil life, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your own hands…1 Thessalonians 4:11
 
Do you remember the WWJD bracelet craze from a few years back?  What would Jesus do became the big question for a while.  It was a great idea but I think it might be time for a new question.  I don’t know about you but I seem to notice a whole lot of folks who think they know what everybody should be doing and they aren’t afraid to tell you.  During Pope Francis’ recent visit there were plenty of folks who evaluated everything he did and proclaimed it right or wrong.  We seem to be running a little heavy on arm chair quarterbacks!  Everywhere we turn these days somebody is evaluating somebody else’s words or actions like they are the expert on everything.  Nobody seems to be safe from the commentary; not a nurse in a beauty pageant or a presidential hopeful or a person trying to take a stand for something they believe is right or wrong.   It’s as if seeking out or guessing about the motives behind everything is a new national pastime and it’s making me nuts. 
 
Free speech is awesome but it doesn’t mean you always have to use it or that you can use it with careless regard.  Some day’s one sentence can turn into an entire segment on the evening news.  Two things my mom always said make a whole lot of sense these days. 1) If you can’t say something nice don’t’ say anything at all and 2) Keep your nose in your own business.  We seem to be spending a whole lot of time evaluating the thoughts, words and actions of others so that leads me to wonder if it’s time for a new question.    I think the new question and bracelet should be WSID? What should I do?
 
Mother Teresa once asked a group of very influential people what needed to change most in this world to make it better, and more Christ like.  Each person answered profoundly with things like; less greed, an end to world hunger, an end to violence and a variety of other truthful answers but she said the correct answer to that question is…ME.  What should I do? The reason I think this is the great new question is because in order to know how I need to change and what I need to do I have to depend on God for the answer.  If I’m calling out to and depending on Him, I’m less focused on others.  I can’t be in charge of anybody else and heaven knows I’ve done enough stupid stuff myself so maybe if I worried less about what everyone else was doing and saying and more about what I was doing and saying I think that would  be a very good thing.  What if everyone started to ask WSID?
 
It probably won’t sell any bracelets but it sure would make the world more pleasant and holy.  We won’t be judged in groups and we don’t get to weigh in our opinion on anyone else’s   final judgement so perhaps we’d be better off just taking care of our own affairs instead of spending hours each day trying to get involved in someone else’s.   It’s just a little question but it could have a marvelous answer.
 
A Seed To Plant:  The next time you feel inclined to jump into a conversation or blurt out your opinion, stop and ask yourself WSID?
 
Blessings on your day!