We see this word “toleration” in so many aspects of life … our jobs, relationships, and even in our own health. For example, parents who tolerate their children talking back to them will eventually have children who have problems with authority in their lives. If you or I settle and become comfortable with a low-paying job, we will never stretch ourselves and launch out to find a higher-paying one. How about our use of words and language that not too long ago were considered offensive and repulsive to so many of us?

It’s not that we mean to tolerate something, but it “creeps” in over time. A good example in my own life is weight gain. One year I gained 5 lbs. and it was hardly noticeable. But unfortunately, over the next 5 years I saw that 5 lb. a year weight gain turned into 25 pounds. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it did because I tolerated it 1 lb. at a time.

If we continually sweep something under the rug and pretend it’s not there, then our behavior and life outcome will eventually be affected in a negative manner…