Can you remember times when your doing became your undoing? I can. (Oh, wait: not yours—mine, Ha.)
I’m glad I remember my blunders; it keeps me humble. Whenever I’m pushing my latest Failsafe Five-year Formula, that small voice reminds me: “Remember last time?”
Oh yeah, God is building me. One faux pas at a time.
I think all would agree: humility lends itself to flexibility. The other night we had a deep discussion; there was quite a cross-section of people. I observed something: a few that night were actually paying attention—and in the process, I noticed they morphed. They were malleable; they had elasticity [“the tendency, after being stretched or compressed, to return to its original shape”].
In that same discussion, however, others just kept pushing forward—no matter what was brought to the table. [The antonym for elastic? Dead.]
Elasticity doesn’t mean you become something else; it means that you can be pushed really hard, or stretched very thin—but you bounce back. And if you learn something along the way, that’s an added bonus. You wind up the same person—but better.
Php. 1:6 He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
It’s called grace. Whenever we find ourselves divided to both ends of the spectrum, let’s face it: we rarely meet halfway. But the gap can be narrowed with solid information—properly assimilated—and a strong dose of empathy.
One of Satan’s best weapons is ignorance. (“My way or the highway” was his invention!) But God takes away a heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh: tender tissue. If we pray, and wait for God’s leading, we can temper our speech with empathy. We “have a little give.” It’s then that we can really share ideas—without sounding like Reality TV or Talk Radio.
‘Got snap?
lovely post, and yes~humility is wonderful, pruning necessary, and trials where love is refined, very blessed! ~love you Laura