Let Live part 5
Letting other people live is a big part of life. Because the truth of the matter is, you can't control what people do. And if you're spending (wasting) your three t's (time, talent, treasure) trying to get people to live up to your expectations, all you're really doing is setting yourself up for failure. I hope I've kind of made that point by now. And I don't want to belabor it. What I want to do is shift focus a little bit to end this Rant series. Letting other people live is a big part of life. But letting YOURSELF live is just as big, and just as important. Letting yourself make mistakes, and learn from them. Letting yourself try new things without fear of condemnation. From without OR within. Because I think oftentimes self-condemnation is the worst kind of condemnation. I think your worst enemy is right between your ears. Same for me. I'm not condemning you. I'm just saying. Nobody has been through all of the worst things that you've done... except you. And Jesus. He swore He would never leave you nor forsake you. He's with you through thick and thin. He's got your back, Jack. But my point is, we THINK we see the worst in each other sometimes (and I think we rarely, if ever, know the whole story of what someone else is going through anyway, but I digress), but we ALWAYS seem to see the worst in ourselves. We never think we're good enough, or smart enough. But what I want to try to impress upon us is that we CAN be brave enough. I was talking to Logan today about his first day of junior kindergarten when he rode the bus to school for the first time. And we were laughing because when he got home from school that first day I told him, "Bub, I was so proud of you! You got right on the bus like you weren't nervous or anything." And he looked me dead in the eye and said, "Oh I was nervous. Real nervous. But I knew I had to be brave so I just went for it." That day my boy was truly alive. He was nervous... but he was brave. He had to do something... so he went for it. And it turned out beautifully. He rode the bus like a champ. Because he let himself (forced himself?) to try something new. He knew I had his back. If he would have freaked out you better believe I would stepped up to the plate. If he had fallen, so to speak, you know I would have picked him up. And that's how our heavenly Father is: He's always there to pick us up when we stumble or fall. And He can even KEEP us from falling. He can HOLD us up. We think we're clinging to Him, when really He is holding onto us and won't let go. So we can take chances. We can do things we didn't think we were capable of. There's a line from a TV show where the son asks his father, "Can I be brave even when I'm afraid?" And the father says, "That's the only time you can be." I know our comfort zone is comfortable. Its appropriately named. But you have to go out on a limb once in a while. Because that's where the fruit it. And, really, Jesus is the vine and we ARE the branches. We already have the fruit, because He produced it. We have what we need to live. And we have what we need to let others live. Because we are loved. And because we are loved... we CAN love. That's what life is all about. That's what life is! To live is to love and to love is to live!