Well, Q and I went to be with Lamar, the 80 year old that we both dearly love, during his tests yesterday. They have not gotten back the official results, but the doctor does not think it is cancer. Thank you Lord! And thank all of you who lifted up his name in prayer. They were afraid he would pass clots and that would cause problems with the catheter, so they kept him until late yesterday afternoon. So.... while we were waiting, I carried my book to read. Only problem... I picked up the wrong book! I had finished "Having a Mary Spirit " by Joanna Weaver a few weeks ago. The cover to her earlier book "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World" is much like the second one. So, dear old me picked up the wrong book. As I just couldn't sit there for hours without reading or quilting or something (well, I guess I could have watched the soap operas, but that really didn't appeal to me), I started rereading portions of the the book. Again, it spoke volumes to me (no pun intended!).
In the book, she was talking about 5 wrong attitudes that we sometimes have. She considers these to be very dangerous, especially for women. The first one is a competitive spirit. These people need to achieve and to be the best. Very often, this type of spirit leads to becoming deeply frustrated because no one can win all the time at everything.
The second attitude was a controlling spirit. These people micromanage people and situations because they have a desperate "need to know". They freely give advice and expect compliance. Again, this is not good. This can lead to a spirit of despair because not everyone will want to comply with what you think is right (Wow! How could that be???).
The third attitude is one of being critical. These people expect the worse rather the best from everyone. No matter what comes along, more could have been done. How exasperating. No wonder they may become depressed or angry.
Now here's the biggy for me. The one attitude that I really have problems dealing with in others.... a contentious spirit. These people love to argue and debate. They fly off the handle easily. They don't mind correcting others' versions of a story, interrupting every conversation, and enjoying making drama by picking fights. These may even defend those in their family even when they are wrong. These people, I really believe because of their constant need to prove themselves right, frequently suffer from a multitude of physical ailments. They may exercise, eat right, and do all they are supposed to do to be healthy, but then still have more physical ailments than others. And they just don't get it. They truthfully can't see any relationship between the two....
The last attitude she discusses is one of a discontented spirit. These people accumulate possessions and relationships in an attempt to fill their emptiness. Start projects, don't finish them. These people often seem defeated and full of disappointment. Well, this is the one attitude that I deal with the least in my everyday life. I am very content in my little house out here in the middle of nowhere with our few little possessions. God has been good to us, and I thank him for that everyday. I guess my parents just raised me to be grateful for everything. They lived during the depression and to them, everything was to be taken care of and respected. Anyway.....
Funny thing. While I was reading this I could picture different people who showed these attitudes as being prominent in their lives. Yes, OTHER people. Not me! How dumb can a person (ME) be? This is taken directly from the book:
"If we don't pause and listen to Christ's correction, God often allows us to run into a continuous string of mishaps and misunderstandings at church, at home, and on the job. We speak the truth in love only to have people misinterpret our words as judgmental. Or mislabel our gift of administration as controlling. Or misconstrue our desire to help as meddling. Our families may even accuse us (unfairly, of course) of loving everyone else except them." "Never realizing that the problem may lie within us."
Within us. Within me. Me first. That's where I need to daily keep examining. Daily laying it before the Lord to speak to me and to correct ME in his loving kindness. Not my correcting others or condemning others. Dealing with myself first. I'm glad my God is a loving, forgiving God. Our Savior "loves us just as we are, but loves us too much to leave us that way." Isn't that great? And even we won't get to see our finished products (ourselves) until we get to heaven, we can be assured that God will finish that which He has started. Wonder if He knew how much time and energy He would have to spend on me to get the "ME" out of me???? Wonder if He ever had second thoughts?
Comments (1)
I think maybe I have a little bit of all of the above and I'd like to think not too much of any one particular personality quirk. Maybe one should take a poll - question and answer - sealed envelope - open only after midnight, and in the dark!!! There is something I remember from University, called the Johari Window, that helps us to see ourselves as others see us. I've kind of forgotten the way it goes, but one could always google it. It's quite revealing as I recall.
Tomorrow is moving day for me - I've been packing for a couple of weeks and am just down to the wire. It was a 'do it yourself' project because I had a lot of time, and it seems easier to unpack when you label and pack yourself. Yesterday, a friend dropped by with her truck to pick up some plants for my daughter and voila! I hefted a big heavy pot over the back of the truck and CREAK - went my back - ohhhh, how I suffered last night and tomorrow is THE day. Thank goodness it's done and I can pretty much just watch until it gets there, and then I can sit and contemplate the boxes for as long as it takes for my muscles and bones to recuperate. I will definitely write something when this is over, for I will either love or strongly dislike living on the top floor of a building - it's a new experience - I may fly like a bird, or crash...time will tell and I"m open to just allowing the experience to take me awaaaaayyyyyyyy!!!! Take care of you precious lady...