First Impressions

First impressions are inevitable.  When you meet someone, or when you see someone you know doing something for the first time you automatically get an impression.  Sometimes it is vague, like you can't quite put your finger on it, but it is there nonetheless.  Usually we reduce our definitons of first impressions to 'good' or 'bad' (even though we pretty up the language so we seem to be smarter than we really are!)

 

Here is the question that I have been asked to wrestle with today:

 

"Why does our first impression of people keep us from loving our neighbour as ourselves.  How can we get past first Impressions?"

 

I think there are many answers that would help to address this, but for some reason I have had my mind drawn to one that maybe doesn't seem too direct.  I want to start by sharing a thought by Canadian author Mark Buchanan:  "I've been in a hurry most of my life.  Always rushing to get from where I am to where I'm going.  Always cocking my arm to check my watch, doing that habitually, mechanically, mindlessly.  Always leaning heavy on the gas, in the passing lane, angry that the driver in front of me doesn't share my sense of urgency, that she's in no particular hurry and can't seem to imagine a world where anybody would be.  Always fuming over having to wait in bank lines and grocery checkouts and road construction zones. . . .But all that hurry has gotten me no farther ahead.  It's actually set me back.  It's diminished me."  (The Rest of God)

 

Now here is my question:  What kind of first impression could anyone possibly give to another person whose heart is so filled with unrest because of how crazy busy they are?  Just think about it:  there is no possible way to discern much about the person who is presenting themselves to you becuase you have given them such a tiny window of opportunity to impress you.  And maybe that's part of the problem:  we have become so overwhelmed with pace and data that the only things that really impact us are those things that can impress us!

 

Maybe our struggle with first impressions about other people has more to say about us than them?

 

What would it be like if we were to "be still and know that God is God"?  If we were to make the choice to slow down enough that the next time we meet someone, the first thought going through our heads is "this is a person that God took great care in creating, shaping, forming.  This person bears His image and is wonderful and beautiful!"  Now if we had that thought in our minds do you think that would influence our 'first impressions'?  I think that even if that person were harsh, or abrasive or arrogant, I would be in a better place to understand and to offer myself to him in a way that reflected my relationship with God.

 

Our first impressions that hinder our ability to love others as ourselves has a lot do with me. After all it is my impression. . . .

 

Here is something you can wrestle with today. . . .Consider, maybe for the first time ever, that your pace of life is not something that is impossible to overcome, that it isn't an inevitable aspect of a culture that is too overwhelming for you to ever change.  And think, again for the first time, that your attitudes are not at the mercy of this culture of speed and the forces they exert on you. 

 

Say to yourself "No".  And then consider this:  take responsibility for your own thoughts, your own actions and your own first impressions.  Then say to God--"help me change".  Say to Him "I want to be still and have you be my influence, my teacher so I can love others the way you love me."

 

Then see what happens.

 

BT