Religion & Spirituality
www.patriciaholland.org/blog I love transparency When it’s coming from someone else. I don’t like to be vunerable but here goes. I judge people way more often than I want to admit. I don’t even want to admit it to God. I know judging people is wrong. It’s especially hard when they ask for my advice and then totally disregard it. Then they want me to bail them out when they get in a pinch! AHHHHH! So hard NOT to judge the heart behind the action. But if I require, or want to require that people do as I say I have stepped into arrogance and that is a dangerous place to be. 1 Samuel 15:23a New International Version For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry… I know! I can’t see their heart, but I can sure see the stupid. Sometimes I have to agree with the wisdom of Forest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does!” Our world is so upside down! Isaiah 5:20 New International Version Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. It breaks my heart!!! Honestly, I can’t hardly stand to see people living in such darkness. On the other hand, I can be critical. Matthew 7:1 New Living Translation “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged. That verse is too easy to remember. So what do I do? So when I catch myself judging, I have learned the hard way, “he that covers his sin will not prosper, but whoever confesses and forsakes it will have mercy. I talk to my friend Precious Holy Spirit. He is in me and He came to be my helper. He knows I’m not perfect, that’s one more reason I am thankful for God’s Grace. It’s too precious to abuse and too magnificent to ignore. I need a friend that always knows what to do so I ask Him. Now don’t misunderstand me I don’t pray to Holy Spirit, but I do have conversations with Him. You do realize He is God’s active agent in the Earth today, don’t you? What do I do with the stupid, the absolute insanity of the things that people I love with all my heart are doing around me? The sin. The outlandish rebellion against God that is taking them deeper and deeper into a dark, dark hole! What do I do? Sometimes the sin I see makes me so mad! So I asked my Precious friend, my Helper, Holy Spirit, “What do I do?” He whispered so kindly, cover them with love. Should I tell Him that I’m not feeling a drop of love right now? He already knows it anyway! I know what He’ll say when I tell Him how I feel. He’ll say…in a way that conveys more love than I deserve, He’ll say “I’ll give you some of mine!” And He does. This isn’t the first time I’ve run out of love. You see I’ve learned my love is conditional…His is unconditional. My love is limited…His is infinite. My love craves recognition, acknowledgement…His is never needy in any way. His love is kind, patient, enduring…I wouldn’t even know that’s what love should look like if I hadn’t experienced it first-hand so many times. Soooo I respond to His Presence. I simply receive His love. I release my pain, my rejection, my fear, my unbelief through the gateway of tears. I give Him space to heal my heart. I let Him comfort me