This is an important thing, which I have told many people, and which my father told me, and which his father told him. When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation? If you confront insult or antagonism, your first impulse will be to respond in kind. But if you think, as it were, This is an emissary sent from the Lord, and some benefit is intended for me, first of all the occasion to demonstrate my faithfulness, the chance to show that I do in some small degree participate in the grace that saved me, you are free to act otherwise than as circumstances would seem to dictate. You are free to act by your own lights. You are freed at the same time of the impulse to hate or resent that person. He would probably laugh at the thought that the Lord sent him to you for your benefit (and his), but that is the perfection of the disguise, his own ignorance of it.
-- Marilynne Robinson
#2702
Monday, January 31, 2011
2 comments:
Thank you for sharing your comments about a quote or about this ministry. Please include your name and what state or country you live in. If you do not have a registered profile, you can login using the "Anonymous" tag in the "Comment as:" box below.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I experienced this very thing yesterday in an airport in Dallas. A woman sat down across from me and said "Hello, how are you today"? I put my newly purchased book aside and replied "I am great, thank you". The conversation that followed was, as I think back on it, almost totally in line with the premise of today's SOUND BITE: "When you encounter another person, when you have dealings with anyone at all, it is as if a question is being put to you. So you must think, What is the Lord asking of me in this moment, in this situation?"
ReplyDeleteWhat we experienced was a period filled with communication which would be considered normal if the two of us had been in another setting and had known each other and if we had talked of less personal concerns such as the approaching bad weather. Our spirits began ministering to each other. I was aware, as I am sure she was, that we were engaged and being lead through this dialogue for reasons I knew related to my previous life experiences and her present life. My involvement was to encourage her and relate to her as she upholds a daughter living through the nightmare of divorce. During that conversation I was aware and actively questioning my words and involvement.
Did I say the right thing? Did I respond to her in a helpful way or did I leave her with the hope and encouragement that I intended?
I will never now the answers to my questions I do know that God in The Holy Spirit ministered through me. I was the channel He chose.
Viki Teague
This is a thinker .. I had to re-read it. Well, maybe I'm the only one that has to re-read these things. It's good.
ReplyDelete~Pat Frederick