Monday, November 30, 2009

Addressing Your Own Heart

A sort of quandry has come up recently. Someone has done something that I'm not sure if I should address. I understand the difficulties in their situation, but I'm not sure if they realize the stress and irritation they are causing. I don't know if the frustration in my own spirit is right or if I'm just too easily troubled. I know that I shouldn't bring it to them while I'm riled up about it, so I'll just pray for now. But how do I know if I should carry it to them later? How do I know what should be done for the peace of the group, for the betterment of our work, the growth of our students? How much do I make allowance for human folly? Which situations require grace and even abundant grace? When should one cover over a matter to promote love (Proverbs 17:9)? When would it be better to confront a bear robbed of her cubs? When is it my own foolishness that needs confronting?

This kind of situation seems to be reoccuring for me over the last couple of weeks. Most of the time I wait and pray and God works it out for me. Other times it hangs over my head for a while. I lack wisdom and discernment for telling the difference between the problems with my own attitude and the problems with other people's actions and attitudes. Hopefully I'm growing.

2 comments:

Jeannette Lewis said...

Hey, what's going on? I know that I'm younger than you, but I can keep secrets. I must admit, I have a few things I'd like to confess that have been difficult to deal with. Maybe we could get together and talk.
-Autumn

Anonymous said...

Oh, Colleen, you sound tired! I'm sorry to hear about the situation but I hope by now it's all resolved. When to confront, when to be quiet - it's a very touch question, isn't it?
Tracey