Warriors Arise: February 2, 2024
Matthew 7:3 And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?
It is natural to look at someone else and evaluate their life verses our own. We see other people. They are before us all day long. Most of us do not spent an exorbitant about of time looking at ourselves in the mirror. I can go days without even looking in the mirror. I might look for a moment when I put my hair up or a couple of moments to apply make up. But even that isn't daily for me. The longest I look in the mirror is whenI am brushing my teeth, but even then I am not really seeing myself. My mind is on the next thing I need to do when I get done.
Naturally, we would be evaluating what we see. The problem is, we generally do not look at ourselves physically or even mentally as much as we are taking in the lives people are living before us. Many times we live our life on autopilot. We have certain things we do each day of the week and just like walking is taking one step after another, going throughout our day is one thing after another. Once we have set our schedule for the day, we precede moving through our day to accomplish each item on our schedule. Most of us have our days crammed with so many to-dos that there is little time in between for self evaluation. Besides, don't we tend to think the lives of other people are way more interesting than our own, right?
Let's be honest, it is just easier to observe someone else's situation in life and think we have the answer. What seems like such an obvious and easy decision for someone else's life doesn't seem so obvious and easy in our own life. In our own life, we see many more components and work through all the possible scenarios to the point of being confused, frustrated or paralyzed. This leas us struggling to make a solid decision for our own life.
Most of us would agree that it is easier to make a decision for someone else's life verses our own. If we are going to truly evaluate our own, we would have to slow down and make time to truly focus on us. The focus is not a prideful, all-about-me, focus. It is an all-about-me to see if the decisions I am making are what's bet for me, for my family, for my relationships, and in agreement with my calling. Honestly, I can't have a clear picture of myself. I will always make an exception for my actions or behavior or I will be so self-deprecating I think I am of no value to anyone. I become extremely critical of myself; therefore, I pull back, isolate, want to hide and remain silent. Neither of these is a healthy option.
I have to be intentional about looking at myself and my life. Just like when I started my health journey, I realized I hadn't "really" looked at myself in the mirror for years, probably even decades. I had avoided myself because what I saw was not what I wanted to be. What I saw was failure again and again and again. I had to turn to God for His help. He led me to the program and I still had to make the decision to submit and follow.
Turning God and positioning my entire life before Him gives me a clear picture of the planks in my own life. I say planks because I am a work in progress. I do not have one area in my life that needs attention but several. If I do not position myself before God on a daily, throughout-my-day basis, my natural tendency to judge others overtakes what I need to be focused on within myself and in my own life. I delight in the verse below.
Psalm 139:23 & 24
Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me, and know my anxieties;
And see if there is any wicked way in me,
And lead me in the way everlasting.
I seek God's counsel and apply what He says I need to focus on first. I can get overwhelmed with all I need to do and the areas in my life that need to change. I have learned each day is like the game Pick-Up-Sticks. I look to God for wisdom and pick up the easies stick to remove from eh pile without moving the other sticks. I can't focus on all the sticks or the impossible stick to remove that is covered by so many of the other sticks. I have to focus on the one stick I can remove from the pile and remove it without disturbing the others. If life were only as easy as a game of Pick-Up-Sticks! Ah, but it is.
God is patient and kind. He is full of wisdom and love. I submit to His leading. I surrender to the stick He advised me to address first. I look to Him to give me strategy in how to remove it without disrupting others. I have not time to be judging someone else's game of Pick-Up-Sticks when I am focused on my own. There may be a time when God tells me to assist another or give them His words of wisdom or encouragement. I trust Him to lead and not mown evaluation of their life because of the neglecting of my own life.
My Father in heaven, hallowed be Your Name. Your Kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day or daily bread. I come to You and place myself before You. I do not want to spend each day looking into the lives of others. I do not want to continually be evaluating their's while I am neglecting mine. I want to know what You have for me this day. I am the play and You are the Potter. I will be molded by Your hands and become what You desire to create. I will not neglect myself any longer. I will allow You to reveal my life, my motives, my intentions, my actions and where they do not align with godly character. I want to become all You created me to be; therefore, I have to allow You to evaluate my life and make the changes that will honor You in Jesus' Name, amen.
A Warrior in the Lord’s Army,
Veridee Joy Hand
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