They’re not looking at your faith based on how many scriptures you can quote.
They’re looking for your faith when the oven is on broil or your dwelling place is a glacier.
They’re looking at how you rise after failure. Yours or someone else’s whom you love. YOU WILL FAIL from time to time. To say otherwise or project otherwise is garbage. It’s cruel on some level, particularly when you make claims of your dependence on faith and in any type of a position of leadership. Technically, everyone is in a position of some type of leadership and everyone has the ability to help others in various ways.
Well, what if for the most part, life is great the majority of time? Will others be jealous? Will they hold it against you? Of course! These are the people whose green-eyed monsters are larger than they are.
These are not your people. And they are not your problem.
We should grow and change some. One of my Susie Speak sayings is, “If you’re going to hit the wall, make sure you hit it hard enough so that the pieces that shouldn’t remain don’t.” One way that I’ve changed is that I avoid angry people like the plague. I don’t care if they slap a Cross in front of themselves, a Star of David, a Co-exist sign, or any other symbol. Unless God Himself nudges me, I’m wearing the garlic around my neck—emotional vampires need not apply. It no longer takes me by surprise at just how many people say they want help or to talk and when you make the absolute sincere overture, they scatter or unplug immediately.
The only person’s habits you can change are yours. This is what generally causes a domino effect on those around you. They will take it as seriously as you do. I’m still a huge believer in the power of prayer and love to watch when and if things change. Prayer does not mean I manipulate the circumstances. Peace in your spirit is a pretty good indicator of how much you’re trying to force a situation while “praying” about it. Walking through an open door is a bit different than using a crowbar or credit card.
Keep walking. Pause when necessary and rest when you need to. No one else can determine these things for you. Your mental, spiritual/emotional, and physical state is your responsibility unless you’re a child. If something was lacking back there and needs help now, it’s your responsibility to get it! It’s wrong to use others as your emotional punching bag and for some of us, who had that forced on us when we were children, we thought that’s what we were here for. It’s not.
At the same time, in a world that’s become incredibly cold, you can still be a spark of hope or a ray of light. Just make sure that if your “Check engine light,” is on, you indeed check it! When you have serious unresolved conflict, everything you say and do is “tinted” or better yet “tainted” by this view. More than millions, you want peace. Ok, millions might not hurt, (well for some it does) but peace? There’s a much greater shortage. Seek peace and pursue it. Verse quoted. Verse activated.
Leave a Reply