our problems solved by Mr. T

Today as I was eating lunch (home-made split pea soup, thank-you-very-much ... patting self on the back), I turned on the television to keep me company.

I ended up seeing a show where Mr. T was solving a family's relationship problems.

Hmmm ... fascinating.

Of course, the scoffer in me rose up to comment.

But before it did, I had some other thoughts.

How many situations in our relationships really don't require intensive therapy, or professonal intervention? How often would an outside observer, who had our best interests at heart, really be able to give us a clear picture of what needed to happen? It could be Mr. T (though I'd prefer no television camers!), or it could be a good friend, or an elder from church, or a stranger's offhand comment.

Recently I was visiting with a friend, who mentioned she heard an overseas missionary say that Americans are noted for their easily-wounded emotions ... that it's nearly impossible to give us constructive criticism without it being taken as an offense.

Oddly enough, this same friend mentioned this in the context of discussing how she'd been wounded by a rebuke.

It's one of the things Christians are supposed to do ... encourage one another to love and good works, and how often that requires going out on a limb, and saying something that might not be easy to hear.

Yet, if it's done in love, it can precisely the conversation that turns our life in an entirely new, and God-ward direction.

Doing it properly, giving these exhortations, is not an easy thing. Much prayer, and self-examination needs to happen. "Am I really seeking this person's best? Or is this particular issue just something that happens to annoy ME?" "Is this really a sin issue? Or is it just a personal preference with which I don't agree?"

And receiving it properly is also not easy. "Do I really believe this person loves me and has my best at heart?" "Even if this doesn't ring true for me, is there something that God wants to say to me through it?"

The Scripture that says we're to "bear with one another in love" is one that needs a great deal of application, because there are times when we're simply unbearable! But there are also times when the love of an honest brother or sister can make us easier to bear.

Just pondering. Maybe I'll turn the tube back on and see if Mr. T. solved things. :) He's not such bad company when one's folding laundry!