But today I write with the full intention of sending a message.
So lets just have at it...
IT IS SOOOOOO EASY TO BE THE CRITIC!
More than that it is down right cowardly.
You couch it as the victim, you couch it as sharing an unthought of perspective.
You let your friends and family down with your easily spoken, not so easily retracted sentiments that lack an ounce of grace.
You need a swift kick in the pants!
You are so caught up in your own story line that you've become self absorbed.
WOE. IS. ME.
Someone has needed to say this, and I am so surprised they haven't... but I'm starting to feel better for it.
Have you considered for one minute the demons others are fighting? You and your sheltered existence need to remember the hurts that daily are carried by others.
Well the reality is, I could go on and on. But I have to stop myself. What I wrote needed to be said, but it also needs to be followed by this.
Please, remember grace. Please remember to act out of love, and not love for self.
I know you're tired. The circumstances are extenuating, but it's time to stop using them as an excuse.
Get back to what you love and who you love. And then, dang it, get after the potential you are meant to live for!
Again... live and give grace. Remember your best, but when you don't succeed, or when people let you down... please go to grace. Be inspired by the best in life, but don't fall into perfectionism from yourself or others. Perfectionism is a form of legalism and it's not life giving.
Now some may be wondering... man, what set her off? Who is she talking about? And a few of you may just be thinking you know who I'm talking about.
That's right, if you said her name is Amanda Keeter.
Sometime grace comes in the form of a swift kick in the pants. For me, I've been challenged, but have let those challenges take the reins on my outlook. I'm so thankful that God isn't done shaping me. (You have to watch this video for more on that). Its been painful this year to understand the need for grace, often out of my own shortcomings. To learn self-discipline, but often kicking and scraping my nails as I'm dragged into new habits that actually shape me into a better person. Grace means giving up control. Grace means giving up perfection. Grace isn't just something I must extend to others, sometimes its hardest to extend it to yourself... myself.
I write this and share it openly only to encourage... I needed to call myself out. Its time to be the better me, and accept my challenges, own them, and then just give it my best and find contentment in that. Not to be afraid of the outcome, and then not trying so there's an excuse of why I didn't live up to my expectations. My potential will be what I make of it, and not something I could have done. Most of all, I have to give it all to the Lord. To see with His eyes. To trust His outcome. Seek His greatness in others, in what I do, in who I am.
It's time to stop the insanity. Its time to stop doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. Stop buying into the lies. God doesn't make junk. Its time to accept His image of others and His image of me. Now that's grace.
