You see, the last few months turned into a time of retreat. From
unnecessary, stressful situations and toxic people. From the evils of this
world that I don’t have to deal with directly. Healing wounds that run deep.
Forgiveness is the easy part (and we all know how hard THAT
is when we’ve been wronged, or someone else we care about has been). Mending
those deep gashes left in our hearts and souls is more difficult, and it takes
time.
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| Photo courtesy of AJenyon of morguefile.com |
A while back, a pastor and very dear friend shared that the Body
of Christ is like a bunch of porcupines. We go through life with our quills
relaxed, but the closer we get, the more likely we are to accidentally poke
each other as we settle in. That’s when we need to recognize the “poke” wasn’t intentional, extend God's grace, forgive one another, and move on.
I found the analogy far too apropos. For maybe the wrong
reasons. I’ve so often seen my fellow porcupines with their quills on the
offensive - standing straight out - looking for a fight and willfully jabbing
others because of a rebellious heart. I’ve also seen those who have those
quills at attention in a defensive posture because of hurts they’ve suffered in
the past (often because of the “offensive” porcupines).
Things have happened recently that have let me know I
definitely need to be prayerfully on guard, as I’m slipping too easily into the
“defensive” porcupine posture. I don’t walk around on the defensive (by the
grace and healing of God), but it doesn’t take much sometimes to set it off
either. A stranger with a particular mannerism (non-threatening at that). A
situation reminiscent in some way to what I’ve dealt with previously (usually
makes me brace for some less than lovely reaction from the other person).
Seeing someone else wounded.
There is still much healing to be had, and I know the wounds
won’t mend quickly. In the meantime, I’m trying not to be a defensive
porcupine. Thankfully, in the situations that have arisen so far, God has
granted me the grace not to react outwardly to those people out of that defensive
posture, but I know I must be on guard until I’ve healed sufficiently not to
react internally in that way.
I never want to be party to causing harm to another
“porcupine”, and certainly not to those who are innocent of the damage others
before them have caused. It would be far too easy to become part of the
problem, instead of part of the solution to the multitude of walking wounded in
the Body.
NOTE - For those of you who aren't sure what I'm referring to above, check out the first post I did this year - Life Ain't Easy.
Thankfully, I already had a fair stockpile of blog posts prior to the first of the year to fill in some of the gaps left by lack of inspiration (and, to be honest, interest). Unfortunately, I didn’t have quite enough, thus the break in my posts. Even my novel writing has been a difficult struggle, particularly in January and February, but the flow finally seems to be returning. It hasn’t returned to normal yet, but it’s getting there.
Anyway, hopefully I’ll get back on track now with this blog.
Next week, back to our regularly scheduled program *G* with something I’ve had
WAY too much fun with lately.
