Her name was Joanne. She had a husband and two children. Her personality was on the quiet side. Her demeanor was gentle. Overall an attractive person in every dimension.
Then the family decided that it would be good for her to get a job. She found a position as a dispatcher for the city police. She left interactions with women at the church and book club. Every working interaction was with every troublemaker in town. She knew the guys who physically assaulted their wives / girlfriends. She knew the drug users who were continually arrested for theft. Every interaction was negative.
When I talked with her a couple of years later, she was negative, cynical, darkly moody. A changed person in almost every way.
We teach balance in almost every practice I’ve studied. Our professions can lead us into a false understanding of the state of the world. It can also influence your very personality. Finding balance in our associations becomes the linchpin of an integrated personality.
That is why wise people have taught the value of periodically stepping outside ourselves and seeing ourselves as others (and God) see us. Vision gives us the ability for course correction.
Choose your associations carefully.
Faith Venture 
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