Hey Sis…Sometimes you see the fire and others don’t. The burning bush may be threatening to burn down their whole entire home…and they don’t see it. You are flailing your arms, screaming, jumping up and down…trying to get their attention. HEY SIS! Your house is about to catch on fire!!”. And they’re all like, “yeah…I mean…ok….”. They are so nonchalant. And you are in emergency mode. You are grabbing buckets of water (protecting your hair, of course) trying to put the fire out. “Girl. My house was on fire last week. It’s not easy to build a new one! Don’t let yours catch on fire” you yell to her, sweat on your brow, soot on face. And she’s like “um….i don’t really think it will catch on fire.”
And you get frustrated. Angry! At least that was my story. I would get so upset when I knew I was saying something that was right, that was Bible, that was God and yet my conversation buddy acted like was no big deal. In the middle of conversations, God would give me something to say, I would be obedient and it would be completely over looked. Or I post something on social media and it gets argued down. OOOOH it would get under my skin! I got the point where I would debate with God in my heart: “Um….naw God….I don’t think I should say that…”.
Remember I told you about my sissy and her de-cluttering program? She had a group of us participate. Every night she would reach out to us about her own de-clutter victory and then ask how we were doing. What had we accomplished? We would praise her on how great she did, then proceed to either completely ignore the last question, or make excuses as to why we had not de-cluttered that day. I could tell she was discouraged, and I tried to encourage her. “Keep encouraging them, they will get it eventually, it’s a really great idea blah blah blah”. I knew her discouragement well and knew the words I was giving her probably didn’t make her feel better.
It wasn’t until I pushed a pile of laundry to the corner of my bed to lie down, after a particularly hectic day (I had not de-cluttered) and thought to myself “If sissy sees this she is gone flip!”. I was sick, hopped up on Nyquil and thoroughly convinced that had I de-cluttered when I should have, I would have had my whole bed to lay in. I began to process through her discouragement, and my own, and God gently spoke. The seed was planted. And those seeds are usually to make life easier, especially in times of crisis. Right now, no one in the group sees the urgency in de-cluttering. But when our homes get messy enough, and we can’t take the junk anymore, we have a process to fall back on, and get our homes in order. And it will be a way of life, not a one time practice. Eventually, when life happens enough, we turn back to what he have heard, we turn back to what’s right, we turn to God. As a lifestyle!
The same is true when we talk to our sisters. We may give advice or shed Godly wisdom and it seemingly falls on deaf ears. That can be so discouraging. Not just because we aren’t heard or feel ignored. But because we know we are sharing to spare them hurt! But I promise, when they get tired of traveling down the wrong path, your words, spoken in love (can’t stress that enough. Things said with an attitude are never met with acceptance. It feels like hurt, not help. In love, not mean, haughty, or argumentative), will be reminders of how to get their homes in order. So keep talking, especially when God moves on your heart, in love, and pray that God waters the seed He inspired you to plant. “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow”. 1 Corinthians 3:6
