It seems to be winter again, with snow falling and covering the ground when I thought it would be long gone (for this area). I like the look of snow; I just wish it would land only on the grass/ earth areas so we wouldn’t have to shovel, and it would still be warm outside. Hmmm. I don’t think that’s gonna work! But snow in and of itself is very beautiful, especially when the flakes are big and floating to the ground at night.
Snow that doesn’t stay snow isn’t so beautiful. It’s hard as in ice or it looks dirty, mushy, messy, and causes more problems for drivers than actual snow, or it becomes heavy and burdensome for those who have to shovel it off the sidewalks. While snow, which has no soul, doesn’t really have a choice in what it becomes when the environment changes it, we do have a soul and so can determine how we will respond in the environment in which we are in.
Simple example: someone is yelling at you in a belittling way making you feel like you are good for nothing. You can choose to hit them. You can choose to yell back, even tearing them down too. You can choose to listen until they’re done and walk away. You can listen and then calmly, without judgment, tell them you are sorry they feel that way but you know you are (positive words here) person. So we see, people will have varied responses in similar environments. Basically, we can choose to respond in a God-like way (WWJD) or we can allow the environment- and the enemy- to have control over us and change us negatively.
When I was going through extreme troubles, I learned that we cannot control other people’s emotions/ feelings, but we can control our own. We can have self control, and it is actually healthier for the other person anyway… and shouldn’t we want their best? “Do not let each man look upon his own things, but each man also on the things of others.” (Php. 2:4) Besides changing how we deal with others, we need to decide if we will allow our environment/ circumstances to change our love for God. Will we become hard, mushy, or continue to be passionate about Him like when we were first saved?
And Jesus said to him, No one, having put his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God
…but one thing I do, forgetting the things behind and reaching forward to the things before, Php. 3:13
I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Rv. 3:15,16
We need to decide if the world will continue to affect our love for God because we can’t move forward if we’re always looking back to the world (like Lot's wife Gen. 19:26). And while we live in the uncertainty of our fence sitting, we become cold as ice or dirty, mushy, messy, and become dangerous and burdensome instead of the light and salt we should be. That’s not where God wants us to be. And it’s not where we will ever feel true peace and joy.
But it is OUR choice!
