Day 23- Friendly FIre

Proverbs 15:1

A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.

Ladies, I love God's timing! I have said it before and I will say it again, God has His hand on the pulse of every single thing....always. I actually read ahead last night and completed the study for today. As I read through the passages and answered the questions I felt a little luke warm about the subject. I already knew what Priscilla was discussing. We need to be kind, we need to not fight among ourselves and use that energy toward working for the Kingdom. I knew these things already. Do not be critical and if you are, figure out why and change it. OK, I know that too.

Fast forward to this evening. A news story broke about a local woman that had left her small child in the car while grocery shopping. It was well over 100 degrees today. When she finished with her shopping she discovered that she had left the little one in the car. The child was alive and rushed to the hospital. This is a terrible story to hear. I know, as a mother, that this woman must feel like dirt for forgetting her child. This little one could have died. We know she suffered. The south Texas heat is brutal and unforgiving. This story bothered me. It made me sad to hear about the pain of the child and the pain of the mother. Then I checked my Face Book. Good old Face Book... Let me just say that I really enjoy Face Book because it allows me to keep up with my friends from far away and I love seeing the kids pictures and accomplishments. I enjoy Face Book...there, I said it! As I was scanning through I saw so many posts about this incident. People were rightfully upset. However, the majority of posts were much like the weather today...brutal and unforgiving. It almost made me more sad to see peoples reactions. It is so easy for us to take in information and then judge away! I am guilty of it as well. One person said that this mother should die, and more than a few said that she should go to prison! Really? Have we never made mistakes? Big, ugly, what were you thinking mistakes? I have never left my kids in the car but I have run over my own dog. I just did not see her. It was terrible, but it was a mistake. Our society is so fast to jump on the band wagon and bash any mistake that goes public. I am sick of it! I have had my fill of others dumping on weakness. God wants us to do our very best. He wants us to also forgive others and to treat others as we would like to be treated. We need to Love more and judge less. I need to love more and judge less. I do not think that the people that post hateful things in cases like this are bad people. I do think that if we were to sit across a table from them and have a rational conversation about our own mistakes and their own mistakes that folks would be more forgiving. I hear people say all the time, "I hate Face Book, its nothing but drama." Folks, its not Face Book that's all drama, it is us. This issue of being prideful and looking down on others goes way, way back. Gideon and his troops dealt with it even in their day. 

I sat down tonight to type this up and I opened the study to run through it one more time. I did not feel so luke warm about it tonight. It felt fresh and relevant. I underlined a statement that Priscilla made. Let me share with you. 

 'The bickering among God's people cost precious time and energy that could have been reserved for more important tasks.'  

Exactly! Instead of us beating this woman up and even fighting with each other over how we should feel about what happened to her and her child, we should be thanking God that the child is going to live and praying for them both as they move forward. There was a law broken and the mother should face the consequences of breaking that law. We should not spend one more second worrying about this situation. God has it covered. What are nasty comments on Face Book going to contribute? Nothing but hurt. Move on doing God's work. 

This type of situations happens all day, everyday. Someone does something that is deemed terrible and then someone else begins to poke them with a stick. It happens at all levels. We are all guilty of it. As Christians we are commanded to handle these situations differently than the world. We are to show compassion and love. We are to show the world what Christ looks like.

You will be criticised for your efforts. Make the effort anyway. Be careful not to offend in your efforts to show Him. Its important to show Him and not show off. 

Ladies, I love you! Its easy to love y'all. Its not easy to love those that offend. But I have to love them anyway! So, I love that mother that left her baby in the stifling summer heat, I love the people that are calling for her to be jailed and I love the folks on Face Book that make it interesting:)  Ladies, I ask for your prayers. I feel like the deeper I get into study the more I get hit on all sides with temptation. I get tempted with anger, gossip, feeling high and mighty. You know, all the good stuff:) It is not easy following the Lord, but then again He never said it would be. 

Sweet Dreams

~Randi