This week’s devotional speaker titled his talk, “Be ye not offended.”
Troy Spratling, a faculty member in the Engineering Technology Department at BYU-Idaho, touched on the power of choosing how we react during particularly hard situations. He referenced Steven R. Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” when he talks about the space between stimulus and response.
In an interview with BYU-Idaho Radio, Spratling explained the concept of the space between stimulus and response.
“Whenever we act on something, it’s probably due to a stimulus. Whether that be something physical or emotional or in our thoughts,” Spratling said. “As I understand it, it’s when we have an interaction with somebody or something and we respond. But it’s our choice. There’s that little space where we’re free. There’s that little space where we have the power to choose.”
In his talk, he emphasized that, when it comes to making decisions, the power lies within us and what we decide determines who we are.
“Our power to choose a response in a large sense defines who we are. All of us are created with a conscience or the ‘light of Christ’ in that we have an inner awareness of right and wrong in regard to our personal behavior. We choose our thoughts, our words and our actions,” Spratling said.