Never Pray For Patience

A woman at church overheard me say under my breath, “God grant me patience” as I rolled my eyes and saw my kids were getting into.  She quickly corrected me and said, “Never pray for patience or the Lord will give you lots of opportunities to work on it!”  I tend to believe her and now I have another situation that I think the Lord may be giving me to work on.  Stupid people.  Exasperating people. Annoying people. Frustrating people. In general, People! There are people in my life who I find very difficult to work with and yet, the Lord keeps putting them in my path. (OK, well some are family, so it makes sense that I’d have them in my life, but others seem rather random.) I have asked God countless times why I have problems dealing with these people and it seems the more I ask, the more he grants me the opportunity to work on my problem-solving skills.  This concept doesn’t appear to be a new idea.

Stepping Heavenward by Mrs. E. Prentiss was published in 1869 and the lead character, Katherine, in this book struggles as I do. She asked her older, wiser, friend Mrs. Campbell what she would do about it.  Mrs. Campbell’s response gives us all something to ponder. “If I were living with them and they made me unhappy, I would ask God to relieve me of this trial if He thought it best. If He did not think it best, I would then try to find out the reason. He might have two reasons. One would be the good they might do me. the other, the good I might do them.”

Interesting perspective. The next time you are faced with a person that you find uncongenial or one who misunderstands you, think about what good they might be for you or what good you might be for them.  It definitely sounds like a challenge to consider.  And, our character in the book struggled as well and asked: “what if neither party can be of the least use to the other?”

Wise Mrs. Campbell explains that our friend, Katherine may be missing the point. She claims that disagreeable people do us good by allowing us to practice self-denial and self-control that their mere presence demands.

There you have it. Even if we think we aren’t doing well getting along with others and even if others bother us and cause us grief, we can applaud ourselves for simply staying in control and not killing them! Practice self-denial and self-control and we will learn to live in peace with all. And, the sooner we can master it, the less we will be given the opportunity to practice it!

 ⁸ Rather, he must be hospitable, one who loves what is good, who is self-controlled, upright, holy and disciplined. — Titus 1:8 

Secretly Do Good Deeds

I recently hosted a used book sale to raise funds for Haiti.  Though I don’t have any young children in my home and I have retired from selling children’s books, I still am always drawn to the picture books.  I love the illustrations and the often rhyming text.  This book sale was no different.  I found myself picking up the hardback, colorful books and enjoying the simple stories.

Secretly Do Good Deeds by Melody Carlson was such a fun book with a great message. Someone did a good deed for this little protagonist without getting caught and it prompted her into doing good deeds in private for others.  The author’s story idea isn’t original, it comes straight from Matthew 6:1-4 in the Bible.

 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.² “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. ³ But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴ so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.  –Mat 6:1-4 NIV

The author ends her story with “And now I will share my fun secret with you. It’s something Lord Jesus said that we should do. “Do your good deeds when no one can see, And God will reward you eternally.”  That ends the story, that ends the book, but I hope it doesn’t end the message.  Since reading that book, I’ve been thinking about how I could do good deeds in secret and I must admit, I’ve come up short.  (So if you’ve recently been the recipient of someone doing something nice for you in secret, it wasn’t me!) This week, however, I may try even harder and I challenge you to do the same!  Let’s see if we can make someone’s day a little brighter and honor God and His word at the same time.

Shhhhh!  Don’t tell anyone!

The World Is Not a Stage

6 “Be especially careful when you are trying to be good so that you don’t make a performance out of it. It might be good theater, but the God who made you won’t be applauding.

^2-4 “When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—play actors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. When you help someone out, don’t think about how it looks. Just do it—quietly and unobtrusively. That is the way your God, who conceived you in love, working behind the scenes, helps you out. –Matthew 6:1-4 MSG