How are you supposed to care about someone close to you and not want to give what-for to those who make them miserable?
How am I supposed to feel the need to care for lonely and mistreated orphans without becoming depressed and sick and overwhelmed at the conditions they are in?
How are you supposed to befriend a person who is not meeting their potential without becoming frustrated at their lack of concern about that fact?
How are we supposed to stand up for what’s right when it brings to light so many evidences of what’s wrong?
How am I supposed to invest my life in others only to be made vulnerable enough to be hurt deeply?
Balance is hard. I’m a fixer. I need to correct wrongs and make things better. Right. But it’s not always (or even usually) up to me.
It has really been heavy on me lately that in working on myself in a variety of ways, learning to feel more and DO more for people who are in need, that I seem to have a consistent upset about it. The urgency is good. It’s motivating. The need is there. But the discomfort that can come with a real look at that need is hard to swallow.
I recently had to type up a sermon for my pastor about worry and the lilies of the field and such. All I could think was blah, blah, blah.
ReplyDeleteSeriously...Hard stuff.
I don't have any magical words of wisdom on this - that whole "what would Jesus do?" thing to me is a crock... cuz sometimes Jesus healed someone, sometimes he didn't. Sometimes he spoke to the multitudes and sometimes he ran off to be alone. He did everything when it was appropriate - when it was God's will for him to act. My biggest struggle is to discern if I'm helping someone or if I'm just enabling them to stay in an unhealthy pattern. That's really why it's important to take things one step at a time I think - cuz there is no "across the board" with issues like this, I think. But I don't really know for sure.
ReplyDeleteHave you read A Hole in our Gospel? It is a great book.
ReplyDeleteI think God does want our hearts to break for the things that break His.
Sounds like you are on the right path (even though it may be a hard one). Unfortunately he never said it would be easy.
:0(...I'm an excellent email venting source, you know...
ReplyDeleteI believe someone wrote:(paraphrased)
ReplyDeleteLord, Grant me the determination to change(fix) the things I can, the strength to accept the things I cannot change, and the wisdom to know which is which.
Hang in there & pray for guidance. Each day is another learning experience. I'm still learning.
Jessie, ask yourself: "Am I giving this person a fish, or am I teaching him to fish?"
1. Hope...
ReplyDelete2. Hope some more...
Then realize these are things of this world.
Breate and Hope some more.