Well all my babies are still sleeping. I have an extra little treasure this week as his mama and daddy find him an opening in a daycare somewhere in the area. Ive got a few minutes to sit down with my cup of HOT coffee and type some words.
Believe me...I have some words to get out today.
Its time to get the bible out and share with you whats on my heart this morning. I really have no idea where Im going with this but its going to fly from my fingers and hopefully its coherent. After all, I haven't finished my coffee yet!
I woke up with a heavy feeling on my heart...I had forgotten about something I heard last week.
Why was I reminded of this?
As I woke up and got things ready for the baby to show up, my mind was thinking through it and grasping for the bible verses that I knew were there but I couldn't recall. There was no battle going on in my mind and no hard feelings so thats a relief ( I hate those times). This memory popped up and I simply started to chew on it and see what I was supposed to get out of it.
It is so interesting how some people are so terribly offended by me and it keeps happening over and over again. Its really been a thread running through my life...among a few other things.
Of course, when something like this happens my stomach always hits the floor and I am left wondering what in the world I could have done or said...then I start to mull over the conversation a million times to see what I may have done. I wasn't exactly born with tact or taught much of it so its not unlikely that my tone of voice was off or I just plain old said something dumb.
Then there are just those times that are mysterious...
One of two things happened:
1. I did something and I just really don't know what it was in order to correct it
2. I really didn't do anything wrong at all
Lets talk about #2
I think you all know what Im talking about...I mean I can't even blame it on Facebook and the fact that I'm opinionated.
By the way, Facebook is like the biggest "fence cleaner" I've ever come into contact with.
If your friends were on the edge about liking you or not, Facebook will knock them off that fence into greener pastures somewhere else.
If your friends don't agree with you on stuff, one of you is going to get FB'd right off that fence into greener pastures somewhere else. There is the rare occasion that I have come across friends that can seriously debate hot topics and we can still hang out outside of FB too...and its not weird.
What can I say...I think I found an anomaly.
Facebook actually lets us look through the fence at each other...and visit too!
SQUIRREL!
Lets get back on track here.
Mystery, oh yes...I love a good mystery!
#2 I really didn't do anything wrong
I have offended people that I have only met once (and had pleasant conversation mind you). Really, there was absolutely nothing in the conversation or body language that was snobbish, rude or anything of the sort...sometimes its just an exchange of names or about how "wonderful the weather is" and "your kids are so cute, how old are they"...blah blah blah.
I also have an apparent knack for offending people I've never met. People who have only heard my name are slandering me!
How does one do that?
Its a mystery...
I know I am not the only one who has experienced this...maybe some of you are struggling with it. Maybe you can't figure out why someone is offended by you.
Stop trying to get them to like you! Stop trying to be politically correct in order to please them. Stop suppressing your beliefs so that you will be agreeable to the masses. Even if they say they are a fellow christian...don't let a label fool you. If you have repented and done everything you can to right a wrong or if you truly have done nothing that would cause offense, then you are right with God and THAT is what matters. Keep your focus eternal.
This is where my mind was wandering this morning...mulling over the fact that it has happened once again...its getting kind of creepy
I mean there really is no other conclusion sometimes other than they are offended by my very essence...or my name?
Seriously, that usually makes me friends right? Everyone loves Summer!
Geez!
Believe me when I say that it really doesn't bother me anymore. I used to be bothered if someone didn't like me and sick to my stomach if they slandered me.
Im so over that!
It doesn't hurt so bad anymore...now I just sit back, observe, learn and apologize when I need to. I've even gotten to a point that when I hear stuff like this I laugh sometimes.
I almost expect it to happen.
But on the other hand and on a bigger picture...Its really very sad. It weighs heavy on my heart but not for the typical reasons.
Im not offended or hurt because it was a strike against me but because of what it reveals about the person. I've been there...offended by someone I barely know.
That is a sure sign of a lost soul!
I am not a picture of holiness Im sure, but I think its pretty obvious what I believe and I know that people pick up on that without me even telling them. Sometimes that is apparent in the kinds of things they say when they are slandering me. I don't talk about Jesus to every person I just meet...if faith is mentioned at all, its just in a passing phrase often heard lots of places....certainly not exclusive to their experience with me.
Im also not a picture of beauty. My husband would disagree, but according to society I am not so beautiful and therefore, its not my looks that are incurring the wrath.
Instead of being bothered by these strange and mysterious things I have chosen to take it as a good sign. A sign that things are going well with me spiritually.
(I should be bothered by the fact that my coffee is cold instead!)
John 15:18-27 is an important thing for all Christians to know and truly understand. We only experience the tip of the iceberg so to speak. I am blessed that I am not challenged to greater depths other than just people I don't know slandering me. Thats really nothing in the grand scheme of things.
“If the world hates you, remember that it hated me first. The world would love you as one of its own if you belonged to it, but you are no longer part of the world. I chose you to come out of the world, so it hates you. Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you. They will do all this to you because of me, for they have rejected the one who sent me. They would not be guilty if I had not come and spoken to them. But now they have no excuse for their sin. Anyone who hates me also hates my Father. If I hadn’t done such miraculous signs among them that no one else could do, they would not be guilty. But as it is, they have seen everything I did, yet they still hate me and my Father. This fulfills what is written in their Scriptures: ‘They hated me without cause.’
“But I will send you the Advocate—the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me. And you must also testify about me because you have been with me from the beginning of my ministry."
That section of John addressed for me what I was mulling over but it also inspires something in my heart about the easter season that we are in. I love when the Word can do so many things at one time.
Jesus performed miracles...even toward the end of his earthly life story. One of them was in the Garden of Gethsemane. A disciple cut the ear off a soldier who had come to arrest Jesus. Jesus miraculously healed it...for all to see. They still hated him.
So you see...if they can hate Jesus after seeing that, they will definitely hate me too.
For I am His and He is mine.
In Matthew 10:24-25, Jesus said:
“Students are not greater than their teacher, and slaves are not greater than their master. Students are to be like their teacher, and slaves are to be like their master. And since I, the master of the household, have been called the prince of demons, the members of my household will be called by even worse names!"Luke 6:22 says:
"What blessings await you when people hate you and exclude you and mock you and curse you as evil because you follow the Son of Man."These things make me feel better in a way. But it also exposes that there is a mass of people who are lost. They pretend to be happy with their life...and maybe they've convinced themselves that they are for now.
Until something happens...so easily shaken.
I hear christians say they can't imagine a life without the hope that we have. I know the lost can't even begin to know life with the hope we have.
To them it doesn't exist...we must certainly be bumbling along just as they are. In a sense I can see how they would think that. Im not talking about hypocrites and all that stuff...Im talking in more tactile terms. I technically could choose to turn my back on God and decide not to believe in all that "spiritual mumbo jumbo" and believe in "science" instead. After Ive said it a few times, I would start to believe it and accept it into my very being (funny that isn't how it happens going the other way...a post for another day perhaps?). The day to day of my life would still remain the same. Not much would change other than I would have an extra day to myself on the weekends and wednesday nights would be free too. I might even enjoy more acceptance and understanding with family and friends. Most of the time, its really not what most christians think it is. Its not dark and scary all the time...they don't live in hell on earth. Those times are not reserved for the unholy and unbelieving. God's day-to-day love and blessings are not reserved for people who go to church and/or believe in him.
We are ALL his children.
God was with me even when I refused him. The difference is that I didn't see it then. I see it now, both in my past and in the present. There is however, a sense of a certain and everlasting hope and joy that is unattainable to someone who rejects him. There is a sense of relationship that carries us through the fire, through the depression, through the awful things that the world can dole out to all of us regardless of our belief. When the whole world turns its back on you...because it doesn't matter who you are or what you believe in...it will. That is one worldly perk to being a loyal follower of Christ. I know there is more to come. It really is indescribable.
As a sort of disclaimer, I usually hear of the things said about me second hand. Because of that alone, I don't hold any hard feelings towards these strangers. Instead I choose to ponder on the spirit of the circumstance rather than the details and the person. I chew on it because the sources are varied, there is some small validity to the claim that it was said, its something that has happened over several years and in the many different places we've lived in the world. I also ponder on the simple fact that I actually hear about these things...and not because I ask. To me, that usually means I have something I need to get out of it...
...and maybe someone to pray for.
There are two people right now that have apparently been offended by me. They are in a very dire place in their lives, and Im not referring to their souls being lost right now. I mean in worldly terms...they are in a world of hurt. I don't know how, when or where but maybe God wants to reach them. Not through me of course...not now anyway. In my opinion, based on what I know...these people are not reachable by human interactions...but thats where God comes in, in my experience.
Please pray that they are reached, a seed is planted or watered...wherever they happen to be in their spiritual walk.
