Accountability

My mom always told me “April no matter what you are doing someone is always watching you”.  It wasn’t until recently that this statement really hit home.  I look back to my college days and remember trying to grasp everything from reading a book to what a professor had said, but most of what I’ve learned was by observation.  I had to do an internship in both of my degrees and learned so much by watching. 

I believe as a Christian you have to live a life that sets an example for others.  I think that when someone doesn’t know God or have a relationship with him they will see those who claim to have that relationship.  People will learn more by watching your example than from what they read or hear. It's not easy to lead by example!  Nobody is perfect and we all fail at times, yep even Christians!  Some think that being a Christian means that you have it all together (big misconception).  Being a Christian simply means that you have a love for God and want to live life for him.   I’m no psychologist but I know that life is a learning process.  We all have hurdles that we have to overcome and challenges that we face, the important thing is how we handle those situations.  Will I pick myself back up and learn from my mistakes?  Will I take responsibility and be accountable for my actions? 

This is the hardest part, because we tend to push the blame away from us.  We try to prove our actions to ourselves and others until we get the approval from that one person who makes us think that what we did or said was ok.  I know this from my own personal experiences and continue to work on this.  We all go through a process of learning before getting things right and we learn the most from our mistakes.  How can we succeed in life if we’ve never failed?  Most people who succeed have done so by learning from their failures.

It’s important to stay in control when the going gets tough.  I feel like I'm always being tested in this area.   People (including myself) don’t like the feeling of having to admit wrong doing.  This is true in any situation!  It’s easier to blame someone else or to avoid the situation.  What kind of person would I be if I ran all the time?  The bigger person will admit their wrong doing!  So today I’m saying that I’m not perfect and I fail at times.  I’m working on doing better in this area and have learned a great deal by taking responsibility.  It’s important to have people in your life that will not just agree with you all the time and go with the flow.  I think you’re the better person when you do the right thing even when it’s not comfortable.  Once again it’s all about being a good person!