Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirableif anything is excellent or praiseworthythink about such things.
I think that if there is one thing I have passed on to my children somewhat imperfectly, it would be the command in this verse.
Often it is a choice to think about things in a positive way, but sometimes a lifetime of experience causes you not to look forward to too much when looking forward would be better.
For instance, today my daughter was telling me that she talked to one of her friends and the friend's family was stressing her out. We all know that families have the tendency to do just that, and no matter how often we tell ourselves that all things that happen to someone we love do not concern us, we still want to make things better for them. Not doing so can create a great deal of guilt, and whether the guilt is deserved or not, it still must be dealt with. This young lady got married last year, and the family from which she came is having all sorts of health problems. Her dad made the statement, jokingly, that they had not had these problems when their daughter was still at home.
Or what about handling the fact that someone in your family really messed up? People do; they make mistakes or they get cantankerous. How do you only think about the good things that they do when they are mistreating people or themselves and those things need to be dealt with as well?
I suppose the answer in a perfect world would be to deal with the problem and still love the person, and I like to think I do a reasonable job at that. However, what I do not do so well with is leaving it once I deal with it. I worry....is the person mad now that I said what I needed to say, are they going to quit doing what they are doing, how should I react if they do not. All of these things eat away at me.
I would love to be the type of Christian woman who exhibits the peace that dealing with such things well is supposed to engender, and maybe I will be if I live long enough. I do know (generally) what the Scripture says I should do. I just have a hard time putting it into practice.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirableif anything is excellent or praiseworthythink about such things.
I think that if there is one thing I have passed on to my children somewhat imperfectly, it would be the command in this verse.
Often it is a choice to think about things in a positive way, but sometimes a lifetime of experience causes you not to look forward to too much when looking forward would be better.
For instance, today my daughter was telling me that she talked to one of her friends and the friend's family was stressing her out. We all know that families have the tendency to do just that, and no matter how often we tell ourselves that all things that happen to someone we love do not concern us, we still want to make things better for them. Not doing so can create a great deal of guilt, and whether the guilt is deserved or not, it still must be dealt with. This young lady got married last year, and the family from which she came is having all sorts of health problems. Her dad made the statement, jokingly, that they had not had these problems when their daughter was still at home.
Or what about handling the fact that someone in your family really messed up? People do; they make mistakes or they get cantankerous. How do you only think about the good things that they do when they are mistreating people or themselves and those things need to be dealt with as well?
I suppose the answer in a perfect world would be to deal with the problem and still love the person, and I like to think I do a reasonable job at that. However, what I do not do so well with is leaving it once I deal with it. I worry....is the person mad now that I said what I needed to say, are they going to quit doing what they are doing, how should I react if they do not. All of these things eat away at me.
I would love to be the type of Christian woman who exhibits the peace that dealing with such things well is supposed to engender, and maybe I will be if I live long enough. I do know (generally) what the Scripture says I should do. I just have a hard time putting it into practice.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home