Natural,Survival,or Opposite

"I'm bald,jobless,have no money,and I live with my parents.
Every decision I have made in my life has been wrong. I am the complete opposite of everyone else in the universe."

This is the plight of George Costanza in one of my favorite Seinfeld episodes.And Jerry's advice to George is simple,

"If every instinct you have is wrong, than the opposite would have to be right."

As soon as George decides to do the opposite, everything he does becomes a success. He even lashes out at the owner of the New York Yankees and is then offered a job with the team.

Our natural instincts in response to situations says much about who we are.
Since getting back from vacation I've had a chance to reacquaint myself with(along with over 100 million other viewers)the eagles in Decorah Iowa.

The eagles are now 12 weeks old and fully grown. Their talons and beaks are fully sharpened, and their wingspan is complete at 7 feet.They hop up and down upon the nest with their wings outstretched as if doing jumping jacks. But even though they are ready to take flight,they have yet to fledge from their nest. One day I spent at least a half-hour watching the live web-cam as these guys just sat at the edge of the nest and watched mom and dad soar through the open skies. I found myself asking,"What makes them wait so patiently? And how do they know when they are ready to take flight?" The answer is simple: they just follow their natural instinct. But they also will know when mom and dad decide the time is right; this is mom and dad's natural instinct.

For us humans, following our natural instincts can get us into trouble sometimes. And there will be times when we will need to use our survival instincts, but even then our decisions may be wrong ones.

Some of my favorite movies to watch are from independent film makers. And some of the stories are simple survival stories. One's of people finding themselves in a difficult situation and the viewer is presented with the same question as the characters are faced with: What do I do? Three survival stories that come to mind where survival instincts are used,but with dire consequences:

Being left by accident out in the middle of the ocean during a scuba diving adventure and facing hungry sharks (Open Water)

Being left up high in a ski-lift overnight in frigid temperatures and the ski lodge doesn't re-open for 5 more days (Frozen)

Your out rock climbing and your arm gets caught in a crevice and there is no one around to rescue you (127 Hours)

Some of the best and most important instincts to have are the spiritual instincts. Allowing God and the Holy Spirit to direct us in our daily walk. Here we are most assured of making the right decisions when we allow God to lead and direct.

If you find your natural instincts are not working within your life, do the opposite and let God lead. You just might see some amazing results.

note:the films I mentioned are rated R for obvious graphic content.