If the 3 R’s make up education, the 3 B’s make up experience.

Believe. Behave. Be moved.

I have done all of these. I will continue to do them. So, will you. They are not optional in life. (Psychologists refer to them as thoughts, actions, and emotions, which isn’t nearly as catchy.) I don’t intend to convey a set sequence by the order in which I listed them. They come on stage in a manner reminiscent of the classic chicken and the egg question. But, they do all come on stage. Of course,  belief (or faith) is a very familiar concept for the Christian. Whether it should be listed before or after “behave”  is something you’ll have to consult James about. They definitely do better when they work as a team.

In every circumstance of life I will believe something. I have to know what things around me mean. I can’t avoid coming to some conclusion about what I see around me. This conclusion will be based on incomplete information. I will put the pieces together and mentally supply any missing pieces. These missing pieces are drawn from what I believe and the conclusion will reinforce what I believe. Impulsive behavior is relatively easy to notice, even if it is after the fact. Impulsive believing is less noticeable until we get used to the idea of it occurring and start to watch for it in ourselves.

In every circumstance of life I will behave (or misbehave) in some manner. Even setting aside the misbehave category, we almost always are presented with numerous options for the specifics of how we behave. Our behavior changes our environment, our information sources, our visual and emotional perspective. Our actions create new scenarios where we ask about the meaning, draw in pieces from what we believe, and come to some conclusion. We are moved to these actions by emotions. The behaviors are, in a very physiological sense, suggested to us by our emotions. We select from the suggestions given and we act. When this happens too quickly and especially when it goes badly, we call it impulsive.

In every circumstance of life I will be moved by some emotion. Even the tightest of logical arguments is made in the service of some emotion. When we are being moved by some emotion, we are being moved not only to act or behave but also to believe. Although emotion does hold a privileged position in the sense of being less verbal than our beliefs and less visible than our actions, our emotions are not unaffected by the other two B’s. In other words, our emotions are people too. We can influence them. They react not only to what is done to us but also to how we believe and behave.

In the story that we live and tell ourselves, these three are the characters we have auditioned, hired and scripted. They are temperamental, hard to control, even self-absorbed, but powerful actors with the ability to inspire. There are other characters in the story, but their scripts are written by someone else.

(Dr. Hamilton is a psychologist providing Christian counseling services at The Christian Counseling Center of West Michigan)