Assumptions

    If you've ever read Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, you know how assumptions can really mess a lot of things up.
    At its very basis, making an assumption is coming to a conclusion without sound evidence, going off what someone else claims about a person/place/activity, or just making guesses about it based on immediate impressions. Making assumptions means looking at a skydiving brochure and thinking, "death trap," without looking into all the safety mechanisms and careful planning that's put into the sport. In a less dramatic (but probably more everyday) example, making assumptions can be looking at a newcomer to a group who doesn't talk to anybody and thinking, "kind of rude how that person ignores the rest of us," without even walking up to say hello and figuring out whether or not the person's just really shy.
    That's the most common form of harmful assumptions, I think; the ones that smudge the reputations of others.  But then there's another kind of assumption that can do that kind of harm to the person making the assumption. Like thinking that an instructor hates you since they always seem irritated when you go up to ask them about something. The teacher isn't really being put down in any way, but it can still make a person a lot more stressed, upset, and hurt--and it'd be needlessly if the assumption is absolutely wrong! There are few other things more stressful than having the idea that one's being judged harshly by others; it can be so easy to assume that's exactly what's happening though. And having those kind of assumptions on a regular basis gets painful.
    The only good kind of assumptions I can honestly think of are the kinds that involve common knowledge and don't involve people. Like assuming that if a lightbulb's not shining, it's out of juice and needs to be replaced; or that when a library book that you know is in the collection isn't on the shelves, it's been checked out. Guessing on those matters rarely gives a person headaches.
   Releasing a lot of these assumptions, deciding to just not assume things about people, is such a relief! And it can actually be done since we know that God is in complete control of situations in life. Knowing that He's not going to let the worst happen (at least, not without an immensely good reason), there's a freedom to not have to try to keep tabs on everything. We don't have to try to figure out what everyone's thinking and doing; we don't have to make assumptions and worry about whether or not they're true. We can just rely on God, and keep living life without that burden.
    Which is an awesome way to live; don't you agree? :)