I did not want to leave the house today. At all. I just wanted to stay home and be cozy. And read. And enjoy a quiet day with no demands in it. After I'd gotten up, showered, and dressed for the day, I layed there on my bed for a good 15 minutes trying to come up with a good enough excuse to call in sick.
My stomach hurts.
My brain is fuzzy.
My legs won't work.
Nope. None of these would work in the real world. So I pulled myself together and sat down to soak up some sort encouragement to get through the day. I was not going to let myself get lost in a fiction book this morning and run out of time to read what really matters.
1 Peter is really refreshing when you need hardcore reminders. Last night I had to deal with one repercussion from two weeks ago when I went temporarily insane. I hadn't thought one choice I'd made through completely and someone was really mad at me for it (and told me so last night!). In my attempt to do the right thing and look out for those who cannot really defend themselves, I forgot to look on the human side of things and approach it in love. (Boy, I needed to remember to love that week...) So this morning, I was really reminded to love as Jesus loves.
"...be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous; not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing." 3:8-9
It wasn't that I'd done something mean or evil, but I just hadn't done it lovingly. I wish I had. I'm super thankful to say that for the most part I handled her confrontation lovingly (considering), but I still need to focus more on this as well:
"...let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit..." 3:10
Words are powerful and can be a pain in the butt if handled unwisely. I'm still learning to tame this wild tongue of mine.
I'm so grateful that we have a God who is patient with us when we struggle to hold onto even the easiest & smallest lessons.
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