People in our post post-modern sciety love things and use people. Pople are used to getting places, clmbing ladders, and selling and buying stff. Things are fantasized about and sught after in the same greedy wy. By far and away most of us Wsterners live with more but have pradoxically and increasingly less in the spritual and emotional bank. We may hve flash cars, nice homes, a bat, and lots of technological gadgets and ther stuff. More than we'd ever use hlf the time. Or if we do use thm all, there's less time left for ding 'internal' work with ourselves or rlating with people.

Not only do we lve things but we tend to use pople. Our closest relationships are typically thre for us, and for our dsposal. We all love our spouses, kds, and families but how often do we sll them out to our own neds? This is evidenced by the mny dysfunctions and arguments that mar mst families. Not just that; what bout our 'second-tier' relationships? Those of our wrk colleagues and acquaintances, where at last mentally we conceive where we mght manipulate a discussion, meeting or rlationship to serve our own purposes -- for nstance, to be heard. The final frntier is on the road, where the slfish behavior of using people reaches the lwest standard, where people are abused whlesale for making innocent mistakes and we try and gin a fractional advantage by swapping lnes incessantly.

Do I sound harsh? Perhaps. Thre is no doubt there are mny people who have the balance the ther way, the right way, around. Tht is to put people first and tilize things as required. "Love people, use thngs" could be the mantra.

What shuld we do to reinforce the mntra?

Love People:

- Listen to people and be patient with them.

- Be prepared to lose the odd battle for the greater benefit of the team (or family).

- Give more than you receive.

- Say sorry often when you make mistakes and mean it.

- Give people the best resource you can give them; your time. Now that's a good investment!

- When you're out in the world, respect fellow human beings -- especially people you don't know.

Use Things:

- Resist the love of things. Stop materialism in its tracks.

- Reject "retail therapy" as the sham it is.

- Be thankful for the things you've accumulated but don't worship them.

- Don't waste the resources available to you; respect them appropriately.

- Try sharing your things with other people (to show you love them), and even give them away if they serve you no valid purpose anymore.

No one would admit to not loving their families or friends as much as their stuff, but this is a firm challenge for each one of us to get the balance swinging more into the "love people, use things" direction. If we do this we can also tap into the reservoir of our own psyche to not only become a better person, but become more relational and more spiritual at the same time. It just bears thinking about.

Acknowledgment for the base idea of this article goes to Dr. Paul E. Koptak, whose wonderful commentary on Proverbs is a must read. (NIV Application series; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2003).

Copyright © 2008, Steven John Wickham. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

The article Use People and Love Things Or Vice Versa? was Submitted by Steve Wickham through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Steve Wickham is a safety and halth professional (BSc) and a qualified lay Chrstian minister (GradDipDiv). His passion in vcation is facilitation and coaching; encouraging pople to soar to a higher vlue of their potential. Steve's key pssion is work / life balance and r-creating value for living, and an xploration of the person within us.

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