The way it was told to me went something like this:
One fine spring day a father and his young son decide to go on a scenic hike in the majestic mountains near their home. After they had gotten up the trail a bit, the father began to tire out, so the son walked on ahead. But he wasn’t watching the trail too well, so he falls, hurts himself, and yells: “owwwwwwwie!” To his surprise, he hears another voice somewhere in the mountain repeating, “owwwwwwwie!” Thinking it was someone making fun of him, he yells: “Who are you?” He receives the answer: “Who are you?” Angered at the response, he screams: “Coward!” He receives the answer: “Coward!” He looks to his father and asks: “What’s going on?”
The father smiles and says: “My son, pay attention.” And then he screams to the mountain: “I admire you!” The voice answers: “I admire you!” Again the man screams: “You are a champion!” The voice answers: “You are a champion!” Now the boy is completely surprised and very confused. Then the father explains: “People call this ECHO, but really this is LIFE. It gives you back everything you say or do.
So what is your echo giving you these days? Or perhaps you have forgotten that this really is how life oftentimes works.
Think back on the last time you had a pretty rotten day; or even a good day for that matter. I’m willing to wager that many of the determining factors behind either one of those days had to do with what you were “shouting” at the mountains of circumstances around you. For whatever reason, if you decided to portray a preponderance of nasty negativity in your words, attitudes, and actions- then suddenly you were surprised that it came back around like a battering boomerang.
No, I’m not talking about some silly notion like “Biblical karma”. what I’m trying to point out is the supreme importance of self-awareness as to how your behavior affects your life both in short and long run.
The Apostle Paul put it like this:
Don’t be misled. Remember that you can’t ignore God and get away with it. You will always reap what you sow! Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful desires will harvest the consequences of decay and death. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. (Galatians 6:7-8)
God wants us to serve Him every moment of every day, because when we start living just to please ourselves- life can shout back some pretty nasty things.
The other issue is that we often try to fix our problems by trying to change the circumstances around us. That’s pretty much like trying to change an echo by moving a mountain…not gonna happen.
Next time try changing yourself first. Start out each day by pouring positive prayers and adding affirmative actions into your day- you may be pleasantly surprised at what God allows to echo back.
Questions:
Over the last month or so, what have the loudest echoes in your life said to you?
How much Scripture have you memorized so that you can shout more positive things?