it’s so easy to look at others and just “know” that you could have done better or handled it differently or would have been the right person for the job. it is easy to think we are better than them. it is easy even to think that we have to do something to help or make right or make sure they know they are wrong.
so sometimes it is actually helpful to point out something someone else may not see. we do in fact have blind spots. but even our approach reveals our heart. i would dare to say that most of the time, it isn’t necessarily helpful.
i find myself in the lives of many who are hurting. people who KNOW the mistakes they are making. me telling them another time to check their choices isn’t going to help. and you know what…i can’t change anyone anyways.
i think we forget that we aren’t supposed to change anyone. it is isn’t our job. it isn’t our job to tell them they are blowing up their life or that what they are thinking is ridiculous. (again…there is a time and place for that but it is far less often than we think.) in the storms of life, our job is to love. our job is to be in the boat, loving and supporting our friends.
in my head it all boils down to one thing….
do i trust the Holy Spirit to do His job or do i think i need to do it for Him?
if i am being honest, there are times when i think i need to make sure someone knows they are wrong, being ridiculous, etc. but the Holy Spirit has that. He said that He would comfort and convict. that He would remind and teach. we are called to build each other up and encourage each other and far less conversation about correcting each other.
it is interesting because i am experiencing all this in a new way. every time i turn around, someone thinks i am blowing up my life. i quit a good job with nothing lined up because God told me it was time. i didn’t know where i was going but i knew i couldn’t stay there anymore. it is if he has removed me from the grid. living far away, not being involved at church, not seeing friends often, not interacting with people regularly, but i am right where He wants me. i feel more joy and feel His presence more strongly than i have ever felt before.
God is moving greatly in my life but few have asked me about what He is saying and instead have jumped to “let’s fix this” or “seriously? no job?”. i am removed just by nature of living 20 miles outside the city when i used to only live 1 mile from most things i wanted to do. and even though God is doing some crazy things on the inside people are so concerned that this doesn’t look like the normal thing….
but then again my life has never been normal. i hope it never is normal.
i wonder how different it would look if people asked what God was doing instead of telling me i needed to get a job. or do something in the church. or give me weird looks when i don’t feel like i am supposed to be super socially involved. (please hear me, i have community, i am committed to a body, i do serve, i do have wise counsel).
i would rather be confident of what God is saying and move against the stream than simply go with the flow. i would rather live the bold and courageous life to do things that make no sense because He wants to create something in me that could only be created in opposition to the world’s wisdom. and while i feel called to love my friends and family and enemies, my first priority is God…everything else flows out of that.
i want to trust God and Him in me, in those who know Him, so much more than i trust my ability to “change” someone. because the truth of the matter is i can’t. my job is to love.
