A lightbulb has gone off in my head tonight. Rather, God has
revealed to me what He is teaching me right here, right now in this moment;
gentleness. Eek! It’s plain as day. To be completely honest with you, gentleness is a fruit of the Spirit
that I HAD already proudly checked off my high Christian horse list of one that I, of course,
already “mastered” and had “down pat”. As my Spanish professor in high school
would say, WRONG-O!!! I need to work on gentleness. This is a gut wrencher for me. It’s the greatest feeling when you get slapped in the face by the Author of your life. Thanks, God! To say/think
I am ungentle makes me sound like a hard-hearted, cold-blooded meanie. Gentleness is so much more than being warm, kind and soft. What does
gentleness really mean? Here are some definitions that I have found from Beth
Moore’s “Living Beyond Yourself” study that describe gentleness:
“meekness…inward grace of soul, calmness toward God in
particular…the acceptance of God’s dealings with us considering them as good in
that they enhance the closeness of our relationship with Him…it is not the
result of weakness but the activity of the blessedness that exists in one’s
heart from being actively angry at evil…”
Gentleness is submission, the “resting of resistance to
God.” To sum it up: STOP FIGHTING GOD. I am guilty of hanging on by a thread to
MY will while the Lord’s will hits me out of no where like a ton of bricks.
Oh sweet soul have I gone kicking and screaming, tapping my toe at Jesus with a
smug look on my face as if I deserve any better than this life He has given me.
I was talking to another change-despising friend the other day about an analogy
that truly visualizes this act of “submission” for me. Imagine we are standing
hip high in the ocean at the beach and a massive, gnarly (such a beach word)
wave is coming at you. In that moment you can choose one of two options; 1)
lock your knees and get slammed by the wave OR 2) bend your knees and simply
float as the water takes you where it intends to go. Oh boy would I rather NOT drown. I get it now. He is
teaching me this VITAL fruit of the Spirit that can sometime go unnoticed, but yet seeps into every aspect of my life and in every relationship. I need to calmly accept what God is doing, see it as GOOD and LET HIM do
what He created me to do and LET HIM lead me down the path He has laid out
before me. I need to float. The great thing about learning things like this is
that I will never be perfect and the Son of God didn’t come to die for perfect
people. Whew. Can I get a Hallelujah?
“As for me, I am in Your hands; do with me whatever you
think is good and right.” Jeremiah 26:14
