Agendas

I wrote in an earlier post about our dog, Troop . He went to live with Jesus and we were devastated by the loss. He was my little buddy and we did everything together. Because of that, I’m still getting over missing him. Every day gets easier, but I can’t help but notice his absence when just a month ago he was so present. We have an 8 by 8 chain link fence in the shade with a dog house that we used for him when we went to work (otherwise, he was running around or in the house). Our good friend has Troop’s brother and would like for him to breed a female so we can have another puppy. She innocently asked if she could borrow our cage so that she could have a place for the dogs to do their thing. Jarrod and I were discussing this and I quickly responded with a harsh “NO.” If she had been standing there, she would have walked away with a nub. I had lots of excuses to justify my “no,” but my reaction was a sign of where my heart was. 

My sweet husband noticed something was obviously off, so he prayed and asked me if the request for the cage brought up anything to do with Troop. It occurred to me that I balked at the request because getting rid of the cage was one more sign that he’s gone and never coming back (which I’m aware of, but each new sign is hard to accept). When we figured out where my “no” was really coming from, we were truly able to assess how we actually felt about lending the cage out. 

This is a classic case of conflicting agendas. Neither party had ill intent, but each party had something she was working towards. She wanted to get a cage ASAP so she could give us a puppy, and I wanted to keep the cage as a sign of hope for another puppy to love. We both have the same end goal, but our roads to success differed. This happens so often every single day. Maybe not with puppies and cages, but with things at work, parties with family or outings with friends. Our agendas with good intentions towards a common goal get cross ways with the conflict of different paths or opinions. 

With all the agendas going on, how do we get on the same path with a common goal? One word: JESUS. When you realize people are walking away wounded, it might be your first sign to check yourself with Jesus. Ask him why you’re responding the way you are and what brought up the conflict within you. Ask him to cleanse you and show you how to approach the topic with HIS AGENDA in mind. Let his agenda become your agenda. When we are all working towards a common goal on the same path with HIS AGENDA, progress is made. Let his opinions become your opinions; let his goals become your goals. Amend your desires to look more like his desires. When we are cleansed and ask him to change the way we think or view things, we start to look more like him. Romans 12:2 says, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect." The cleansing happens first or else his opinions pile up on a dirty slate and it gets all muddled. A clean slate + his opinions, desires and agendas = a Christ-like mentality. With a Christ-like mentality, your agendas are met with clear paths and achieved goals.