We are always interpreting the world around us, and most interactions we have with other people can be interpreted in different ways. The cultural embracement of relativism has made the art of interpretation even more difficult. What was once cut and dry has become vague and ambiguous. What was black and white is grey with hints of color thrown into the mix.
If your boss hesitated as he gave approval for a project that he wasn’t completely behind, does that mean you should run with it or go back to the drawing board? Maybe your friend keeps saying she wants to hang out, but she’s never available when you try to connect. Is she just pretending to be your friend or do you give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that it has just been bad timing?
The fact is that interpreting the feelings, intentions, and even actions of those around us is hard work. This past weekend, my wife and I met a couple of our friends for coffee (although none of us had coffee), and we began taking about some interactions I’ve had with different people in the past few days. My interpretation of those situations was much different than the way they saw it.
I try to not read into the interactions I have with others because the story I read most often does one of two things. It could bring me down because I feel like they are looking down on me or I feel like I am going to be in trouble. I call it the principal’s office syndrome. Even the good kids do not like to be called to the principal’s offices. On the other end of the spectrum, I am likely to get my hopes up for something great to happen, only to be let down when I find out that it was just a friendly gesture. It’s like leaning in for your first kiss after a romantic date and having the door shut in your face.
Other than the few times we interpret relational interactions correctly, we are likely to find hurt. There is hurt when we think the worst of a situation, and there is hurt after we find out that it was not the best that we were hoping for.
Let’s set the principal’s office syndrome to the side for another time. As we interpret our interactions with others, it is good, and I would even venture to say healthy, to be hopeful. To lose hope can cause us to lose our drive to press on through the harder times. There is a chance we will find hurt if things do not turn out as we hope for, but that hurt is only temporary if we place our true hope in Jesus Christ.
My wife and friends all read into the interactions I had with a hope-filled story for the future. I liked where the story led and a part of me hopes that the story goes beyond speculation. But even if that particular story is never written, I know that I am a part of an even bigger story that is being written by our Lord. My hope is built on Him alone and I will press on in this story towards Him.