Miscellanea Item No. 2

I'm of the following opinion.

Sometimes people--friend, acquaintance, or a chance-meet--make mistakes and are very painfully aware of the enormity of the decisions' stupidity or recklessness. And they are sorry for the deed, not just the consequence.

When these people come to me--for advice, to vent, or so on, and whether or not they have done offense to me personally--I hope God gives me the perception to sense that they are indeed sorry. I pray even more for the grace and kindness of my Brother Christ Jesus to see that they have beaten themselves up enough about what they have done and that I will have the ability to take their "club" away from them--they don't need my help heaping up guilt on themselves.

Not everyone who has strayed from the right path needs a thrashing, and if they do, it's very likely not supposed to come from me.

Hugs, tea or coffee, chocolate, silent empathy, or all of the above are maybe better salves for the grieved hearts.

Gentle man

Gentle man

Learned well in the ways of his Father

Dependable man

Intruding into my despair

Yet can take “no” for an answer—

Frightening thought.

He walked ahead of his beloved,

Gave her a rose—

Thorns gone: he himself had taken them off.

Generously open and red.   

And opened the door for her.

A Moment of Thanksliving

Mine is this...my thanks to God for His gift of a humiliation.

An outstanding growth of character came from my Biology and Chemistry classes my first semester sophomore year. I've always been gifted in the area of English, words, and writing. I'm not bragging: I acknowledge it is a treasured gift from my Father. However, prior to the aforementioned semester, I esteemed my gift lightly--I had an unkind attitude towards others who weren't on the same level of understanding English as I was. I never spoke these things, but I would think, "Wow, you're stupid if you can't get this--what is wrong with you?! This is simple." During the course of that semester, I failed basically every Chem. and Bio. lab, quiz, and test--I studied, I got a tutor, and nothing worked.

I've been gifted--however, that's no free pass for me to despise others because they can't do what I can. I pray I never forget those moments of complete confusion and dismay during Chemistry and Biology, because I need them to remind and move me to compassion on those who struggle.

I am thankful for God's gift of humiliation, and I am thankful that He even gave me the ability to learn from it.