Thief

  This word invokes a feeling of danger, of 'someone or something' intent on stealing from us! Our material or financial resources. For some people this is also associated with a feeling of helplessness, of being a victim - that the 'thief' has more power over us than we do. I believe, and would argue, that there is far more to this word than only the loss of those material/financial items. The more critical loss is peace of mind, the sense of safety. This robbery is far more extensive than we may initially realize.

  As devastating as those losses may seem, there are other thieves that take far more from us - worry and unforgiveness are only two examples. The tragic part is that the person perpetrating these acts typically is... us - we are the thieves, robbing from ourselves. Look at worry. Worry is never something that others do to us, we do it to ourselves. And as illogical as worry is, we all do it. Logic tells us that if we are able to do something – we will. The lack of logic reinforces the fact that worry, by definition, means that we can't do anything about or with or concerning/etc. the particular issue - it is out of our hands. Perhaps it is because we can't influence the situation that we worry. But this never accomplishes anything.

  The opposite is true with unforgiveness - this is totally our decision. We decide to forgive or not. And forgiveness includes our self - many times the most difficult person to grant mercy to is us. In every act of forgiveness, the critical considerations are not to seek revenge and to not hold a grudge. Both acts are easier said than done. But both are thieves of our peace of mind and both are within our hands to act on or move on.

  What benefit can you derive from robbery (when you are the thief)? Right – none! And there is no benefit derived from being a victim – at the mercy of someone or something else. Theft may occur but we don’t need to abet it. This will always require that we change our paradigm, change our mindset, change how we react when these situations arise. We can always triumph. Actually it depends on your definition of 'triumph'.