Did you ever get to the point where you say, “Enough is enough”?
I’m there.
Some of it is my fault. I am a people pleaser. I am a peace maker. I want everyone I know to like each other. I want everyone in my family to get along. It’s not happened thus far. Don’t think it’s going to.
That’s not pessimism. That’s reality.
I’ve talked often in this blog (especially on “depression’s gift” that has since been merged into this blog) about how one of the ways I defeated depression in my life was by facing reality. I think I’m at another level now and I have to tell you, it feels good.
The truth is we can’t move forward as long as we stay where we are. Let me repeat. We can’t move forward as long as we stay where we are. Or as the definition of insanity reads, “We can’t keep doing the same old things and expect different results.”
A third and more “in your face” question rather than statement is this:
“How’s that working for you”?
It’s not a selfish question to ask ourselves. As Christians we NEED to ask ourselves that now and then. God has specific as well as general purposes for all of us. But most of us are never going to see those purposes realized if we continue on the same direction. (assuming, of course, that we aren’t already heading in the right direction. And because we are many faceted people with complex lives, we might be stalemated in some areas but moving along just fine in others.)
I’m not talking about ending relationships, etc. I’m not talking about telling someone off. What I am talking about is changing my reactions and being more willing to say what I mean as kindly and full of mercy as I can. Thank goodness, I have a great example.
Jesus.
I’m always surprised by people (most of whom have never read about the gospels) when they have a picture of Jesus as this kind of milk toast person. He was never that. He always chose His reactions and responses from a position of strength even when being “led like a lamb to slaughter”.
Jesus never lied to anyone. If someone asked him a question, He told the truth. Jesus never placated anyone. Too many examples to even begin to list here. He never agreed just to agree. (See yesterday’s post for the one person I do have to do that with for my sanity.) Without a doubt, Jesus was the most honest, truth-telling, holding-no-punches kind of person that ever lived. And yet He was also the most forgiving, most compassionate, most loving person that ever existed.
To me that means that if I’m to follow His example as scripture says I should, it must mean there is a way to do the same thing.
I’m still working on it but today I’m one step closer to maybe understanding how deceiving myself gets in the way. That’s something Jesus never dealt with. (At least I don’t think so.) I think it must be part of the human condition. It’s how we protect ourselves until we’re strong enough to face the next reality.
Tomorrow I’ll be talking more about this and will give you a couple of examples.
God bless each of you.
