I have been thinking about this a lot in the last day or so. I had a life changing experience last spring when I was at Disney World. I had all three kiddos and my super awesome cuz, Aubrey with me. We had a RIDICULOUSLY difficult evening . . . (one of those that is comical to think back on . . . how could sooo many things go wrong at once?!) . . . We were exhausted . . . and on the way back to our car . . . really . . . we were practically to our car . . . my eldest dear child decided to have a fit. He stopped walking right there in the parking lot and started crying. He said his legs hurt too much to go on. We told him . . . to walk. We were so close! Besides, Aub and I had strollers, the other kids, purses, bags etc. There was no way for one of us to help my very capable son. We kept walking knowing that in a moment he would follow suit. Well, two women were walking by as my sweet child erupted into his tantrum. They commented to each other on me being an awful mom . . . and how he just wanted attention . . . but they did it loud enough where both Aub and I heard it. We could hardly believe it . . . I mean . . . seriously?! Those women had no idea what we had endured . . . they had no idea what was going on . . . or what was going on with my son . . . they just judged what they saw. . . and judged incorrectly. I am so thankful for them though . . . bc God has really used that moment in my life. It will be one I never forget. It has really opened my eyes to the fact that I DON'T KNOW what is going on with people . . . so who am I to judge? I don't know their backgrounds . . . their inner struggles . . . their broken hearts . . . I don't know why they do what they do. Only God knows that stuff . . . so I am happy to leave the judging up to Him . . . the righteous judge!
Along with the idea of not judging . . . God has been speaking to me about how there is often jewels found in all the different expressions of Christianity . . . just waiting to be gleaned. I may not be Catholic . . . but I know some Catholics that love Jesus . . . and you know what . . . sometimes they say things that challenge and grow me! I need to keep my heart open to allow God to speak to me through whomever He wants to speak to me through . . . even if it is a person from a different denomination that I do not agree with a lot of his doctrine . . . or a donkey for that matter (this is a reference to OT if you didn't catch it . . .). If God is speaking . . . I want to be listening! I have just found . . . I can look past the doctrinal differences . . . and really glean wisdom from some of those people. God uses them in my life . . . He uses them to show me different ways to look at things.
I remember in college when I was a Young Life leader . . . my dear friend and Area Director (one of the wisest men I know!) taught about how rabbis usually had a special teaching or yolk . . . it was like their life teaching and it was the thing they majored on . . . the big revelation God had given them. I have found this to be true of people . . . often. God puts passions in different people for different truths . . . Often those people think their "truth" is the most important one (bc they are passionate about it, lol) . . . but I like learning from different people and gleaning the different revelations God has dispersed among His people. I don't always agree with everything . . . but I have a Daddy I can bring each and every revelation to . . . and His Spirit helps me sort through what is from Him and what isn't . . . ya know?!
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