I wish that others would show me the grace that I have worked and struggled to show to others (not always successfully) when being lovingly reproved. God's done a wonder in my heart to be soft to the friends and family who come to me and say, "Perhaps you should have done ______ differently." In fact, I can think of three or four separate occasions in the last month or so where I've been approached in such a way and received the gentle chastisement without becoming angry or defensive.
Praise God for giving me a humble heart. Now all I have to do is stop saying all the things for which I must later apologize. Even as I think happily of my humility, God graciously knocks me from my pedestal, because HE KNOWS. I don't belong up there.
I think I heard this from my father first: The truth is not the problem.
How people respond to the truth, how the truth is delivered - those CAN be problems, which are hopefully easily resolved, but the truth itself is not the problem. I do not recall ever struggling with honesty. I can tell it like it is, boy howdy!
Tact? THAT'S where I get into trouble...and how I appreciate when folks give me the benefit of the doubt. I'm even getting better at reciprocating, which is saying something. I can be a very judgmental person, but God is teaching me to forgo judgment for the sake of relationship. Sometimes I do better with that than other times, but I have all these great friends and family who will slowly (no one likes confrontation) pick up the phone to tell me like it is.
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