Have you noticed yet? Where ever you are there you are? The one thing that threads its way through all the days of your life is you. Seasons come and go. But you are the witness to all of those seasons. In the midst of good times, there you are. In the midst of the worst of times, there you are too. You just can't get away from you. Your attitudes, your faith, your personal weaknesses, they are always where you are.

"So what?" you may ask. What does that have to do with me. Everything, because it is all about you. Let's get more specific.

The reason why this is so important is that it places the true state and condition of our life upon your own shoulders. It is how you respond to the circumstances of life that determine the quality of life you live, not the circumstances themselves. It is how we relate to those around us that causes us to struggle with being accepted, not whether others accept us or not. Think about it. Just because someone calls you a slimy green frog doesn't make you one and you don't have to act like one just because they think you are one.

So what's the problem? Could it be that we just don't like to think that we are ultimately responsible for our life? We seem to be addicted to finding others to blame for the less than optimal conditions in life, and that ends up bringing temporary self-justification to our situation, but not solution. No solution is available when you believe that your life is what it is because others have made it that way. Some blame their parents. Some blame their government. Some blame the church. Some blame their husband or their wife. Oh, and there is always some devil to blame. And some would even blame God. But when it comes right down to it, we are the ones that are accountable for our own life's condition. God has created us as free will beings capable of making decisions and accountable for the decisions we make.

When we believe what Jesus Christ has done for us, we are given a new life to life, fresh beginnings. This new life, this reborn life, is the result of Jesus taking all the blame for our sin upon Himself. He has truly become our scapegoat. But even this is the result of our owing up to the fact that our own life is in desperate need of being forgiven for all our own sins. It is a time of repentance from our own unrighteousness. At the time we receive Jesus as our savior, we are no longer excusing our sin, but owing up to it. We are no longer blaming others for our problems, but crying out for deliverance from them. It's not our parents, our mates, our brothers or sisters. It is not our government, the church, a devil or God that we argue is our problem. We are our problem! Our total focus has changed. And God comes in with His great mercy and life-sweeping grace and forgives us for all our confessed sins. We owe up, He forgives, we are freed from the death of that sin.

I think it would be good for us to remember this reality and apply it daily as we need it. As soon as we start blaming others for our own conditions, looking to our circumstances to justify our inabilities, we forsake the grace of God, and that is not a wise thing to do. God has begun a good work in us because we acknowledged our need was personal and He will perfect it as we remember it. No one else can do this for us, only us, and no one else can stop us.

Key to all our victory is our ability to admit that ultimately we are the main problem - not others, not our conditions, past, present or perceived future. NO! it is US. All other problems can be overcome, if we are overcomers. We can go to God in this reality and it will release the grace and mercy of God powerfully into our lives. WE will change ! Then all things around us will be different to us.