Misperception, For sure!

My dear dad, Reuben, was a wise, patient man.  I was a quiet, goody-goody girl but my three younger brothers were, well, they were boys!  This incident involved me. One day I was in the bathroom taking care of business.  There was a brand new roll of toilet tissue hanging.  It would not unroll, at all.  I kept twirling it on the holder, round and round it went, I scratched at it as it was turning but it still wouldn't unroll.  I guess my dad, who was downstairs, couldn't stand it any more.  He hollered up the stairs at me, "Whatsa matter, Janice, you gonna unroll the whole thing?"

Dad must have heard the thumpa-thumpa sound of the rotating tissue roll.  I couldn't think of a thing to say, so I said nothing.  Everything was quiet.  So I just silently tore off what was needed.

Remembering this made me wonder how many other 'misperceptions' there are in our lives, things that appear one way but, in reality, are something different entirely.  Concerning relationships, we would do well to avoid all appearances of evil, all events that anyone may misinterpret.

In my church music days, I was naive and accepted rides to practice at church when both of us were married - to other people.  Neither of us ever thought that we were doing anything wrong.  But, after the fact, someone told me, "everyone thought you were having an affair."  Big Shock!  I would have and did thereafter, go out of my way to make sure no one could possibly think that.  Besides possibly hurting our spouses, an affair would have been an offense against God.

There have been plenty of men I knew that were seen (by me) at restaurants having lunch with their secretaries. Was it innocent?  Only God knows!  I'd bet that they all really wouldn't have wanted their wives and children to know.  The 'secretaries' were always much younger and really pretty.  One time in our small town, it actually did lead to a breakup of a marriage.

A recent temptation in this area is 'Facebook' friends.  One spouse starts out innocently (?) starting a friendship on line with a person of the opposite sex.  Somehow it blossoms into romance and they meet in person.  Marriages have ended because of this.  Everyone needs to realize: no marriage is perfect; if you think yours should be, you're a fool!  Work at making it better (it's also a lot cheaper than divorce!).

Dear Lord, one of the wise sayings in Your Book, the Bible, tells us to avoid the appearances of evil.  Lead us to explore more of the wisdom of Your Bible, your guide for our lives.  We really want to do what you tell us is best!