Something I read...

I've been going through a reading list I made up. I got the lists of books from several different folk that I respect, and put the whole list together in my Amazon wish list. That's now where I point friends and family when they want to know "What do you want for..." I recently ordered four of the books on my list and this morning I started reading As a Man Thinketh by James Allen.

There was one part that I read this morning that really struck home to me. He says

A pure-minded man does not fall suddenly into crime by stress of any mere external force; the criminal thought had long been secretly fostered in the heart, and the hour of opportunity revealed its gathered power. Circumstance does not make the man; it reveals him to himself.

That part really struck me. When we find ourselves in our toughest hour. When things are the worst we can imagine...who shows up? Can we look back on times we were in those circumstances and be proud of our response or do we look back and are ashamed of our behavior?

Do you disagree with this premise? That during our hardest times our real character shows through...weather good or bad? I think sometimes we don't want to accept this premise because we have not been proud of the way we handled adversity in the past.

The good news is while past behavior is indicative of future results, it does not guarantee them. So if a situation was handled poorly in the past, that does not mean it will be handled poorly in the future. Take the opportunity today to review the last time a tough situation presented itself and your response to it...can you do better next time?