Post by tomdurst on May 8, 2015 8:36:00 GMT -5
BEING THE PERSON WHO MEANS THE MOST
"When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives means the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand."--Henri Nouwen
We often are so quick to give advice to someone. Frequently this is because we’ve made a negative value judgment as to where that person is in their life journey and feel we must somehow correct him/her. The problem with this is that we don’t know ALL of the circumstances involved nor do we really understand what the person may need to learn. We think that OUR opinions or ways that we handle life are the best. Just because some things have worked well for us doesn’t mean that this will be true for everyone else. Most people have already had too much advice as it is and would be much better served if we would learn to really listen and extend a warm and tender hand. People sense it when we really care. In the end every person must find his/her own way as life unfolds and we must avoid meddling and thinking that it is our job to correct others.
One of the greatest lessons for all of us is to learn to accept people right where they are without thoughts of judgment. The more idealistic we are in our beliefs the greater the temptation to judge and to think we must correct others. Judging others and believing that we must correct them keeps us in bondage and prevents us from seeing our own issues that need correction (see Matthew 7:1-5; Luke 6:41-42). By the grace of God we can learn a better way but none of us can overcome any issues without first recognizing them and wanting to change (see Lamentations 3:40). When we change for the better we are in effect helping the whole world to be better. As we heal we send out beams of light and healing and many will be healed that we’ll never know anything about (see Isaiah 60:1-3; Matthew 5:16). Give this more thought if it sounds too simple to you.
