Reactions

As I write this, I am sitting by a small creek running through the Black Hills of South Dakota. I love the hills and what they offer for so many different reasons. One reason is that I love to sit back away from the highway and listen and smell. What? you like to just listen and smell you say?? Yep, smell. The way the wind will blow through pine trees is unmistakable and the smell of pine will just carry you away.

For me, it carries me to remember all the years we have come to the hills during the Thanksgiving season. We would come to the hills and have Thanksgiving as a family and watch some football in the afternoon (go Cowboys) and that was great. But it is the Friday after that has made permanent marks in my memory. Here in the Black Hills National Forest, you can purchase a permit to cut down your own Christmas tree. So our family would set out on our own black Friday so to speak as we would tromp through the hills looking for that one tree that was not too sparse, not too tall, and not too ugly. Some years we even managed to find one. If you know us at all and have seen any of the trees we have brought back, you know that we didn’t always have the best looking tree on the block but I can tell you this. I’ll bet we had a tree with the most memories attached to it. For on those tree hunting days, our family would make some of the best memories we have together. We would spend the day hiking, playing, talking, and just plain goofing around. This would be the week I looked forward to more than any other week of the year, including Christmas. On these days, we would pack some hot cocoa, a few things for lunch, clothes for playing in the snow, a camera, and a saw. We would then set out for the journey of a lifetime. Well, ok maybe not of a lifetime but it was really fun none the less.

We would get off the main highway and onto the fire trail backroads. At this point the hunt was on. Driving through the hills someone would shout out “What about that one” and from the road, it would look great. Nice and full, not too tall but just right. So, we get out of the truck walk up the hill (it was always uphill) and when we could hardly breathe due to our impeccable physical training and a little more altitude than we were used to, we would come to the “perfect tree” only to find out it was two small trees grown together or one grown right behind the other that looked like a perfect tree. It didn’t take too long before we got smart and brought along some binoculars. No matter how many times or trips we took up the hill or over the deep ditch or across the creek, we always ended up cutting a tree down, taking a family picture with it, and loading it up in the truck.

We have taken a lot of flack from people for the trees we bring home. Mostly because a lot of years we would bring home a tree that even Charlie Brown would have to look twice at to make sure it was really a Christmas tree.  But that didn’t matter to me, not because we had such a great tree but because we had logged some of the greatest memories on the planet about being together and what it meant to have a true community as a family. Now, this sounds a little too much like a Norman Rockwell painting and I will admit that every once in a while a temper could get short or a feeling would get stepped on. But even with all of that, I count these trips as the highlight of the year.

I titled this post “Reactions” and up till now, you may be wondering what hunting for a tree has to do with that. Well, let me tell you. Every day of our lives we deal with reactions. We see one thing and react, we feel one thing and we react, we have something happen to us and we react. It’s not about what happens to us that is important, it is how we react to it that will either give us a boost or tie us down.

Have you ever thought about why you react the way that you do? Do you think you have a choice to how you react? Do you ever think you can change the ways you may react inapparently to certain situations? I believe that if you understand the “Why behind the What” of reactions you can have a better understanding and a better chance to respond to situations in life more appropriately.

In my last post, I asked you to take a look at some of the memories you have from your past. Both good and bad memories because I want you to look at those times in your life and see how you reacted. As I am sure you are thinking the same thing I am and you may even say “Bryan, I’m not all that proud of the way I reacted in some of the situations I have been exposed to.” I get it, me too. I have not always picked the best route through some situations either. And, there is nothing we can do to change that. The only thing we can do is try to learn from the bad ones as to what not to try and repeat and grab on to the good ones and try to build upon them. We have a big advantage in this area of life if we will understand our own personalities. According to Florence Littauer, there are four dominant types of personality: sanguine, choleric, melancholy, and phlegmatic. Each personality type has its own distinctive strengths and weaknesses. I would encourage you to find a personality profile quiz and see what your personality says about your strengths and weaknesses. From there you can both give yourself permission to understand why you may react the way that you do. Fix the reactions that cause harm and build on the reactions that create good in your life.

Remember this, the best reaction we have to make is the reaction to what Jesus has told us. “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 God loves you and wants you to have a life that is pleasing to Himself. God will not force you to react a certain way but will show you how he made you and why he made you the way that he did if you will react toward him and not away.

I hope you have a great day and if you can, get out away from the noise of life and find somewhere to sit and listen and smell all that God has for you.

Blessings,

Bryan