I heard a speaker (who had been a chaplain at one time at a homeless shelter for five years) this past weekend who said two interesting things among others:
It isn’t always your fault…
It isn’t always about you.
Elise Moore
She mentioned that at one time when she was a child, her mother had two kids and two suitcases, and they were nearly homeless. She is not judgmental about situations like this, because she knows it isn’t always your fault. (I thought because she had a heart for situations similar to what she had experienced as a child, she had been moved to serve as a chaplain at a homeless shelter, though she did not make this point.)
A second situation she told about was a young boy with a new motor bike who felt strongly he was supposed to stop and look over a ravine. His first thought was: I’ll be late for work. But he stopped. And when he looked over the ravine, there was a woman upside down in her car. She had been calling for help for two hours, but no one had heard her. Later when he thought about it in his Sunday School class they felt that God had spoken to everyone on that road for two hours, but he was the only one who stopped. It isn’t always about you. (This was particularly striking to me. I don’t know that I would have thought that God had spoken to everyone on that road for two hours, so it arrested my thinking.)
I thought they were interesting examples that made her points well.
The trick is knowing when it is God speaking and when it is just our own thoughts. It’s an on-going process for me. I remember a time, one of many, when I hadn’t realized it was the still, small voice…until later…and I thought, no matter how many times I don’t listen, thankfully God continues to reveal himself. It was a comfort. He never says: that woman never listens, I’m never talking to her again!
Karin
Originally posted 2007-01-20 19:32:24.
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