The Lord is in the process of forming our true God-given character, the one He planned when He sent us here. Our bibles are filled with instructions that we need to personalise as we LET the Holy Spirit work on our hearts. Here are a couple:

Romans 12:17-18: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.” 1 Corinthians 14:1 “Make love your great aim.” Ephesians 4:32. “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Have you ever known someone that was so closed off and unavailable, you could only access tiny pieces of them on a good day, if the wind happened to be blowing the right way? Sigh… me too! There are days when it feels like I have a collection of those people — the same way you would collect a bouquet of beautiful roses — only these people have giant thorns. They might smell gorgeous, but watch out!

Prickly people are the bane of my life, but, of course … “I’m not prickly … even a little bit!”. Back to everybody else … quickly! So, right now the Lord has me in the middle of a learning curve. I am learning not to try to please people, but to love them, icky and all, instead. Sometimes, it seems like there is no way I can live at peace with an angry person because they are always armed and ready to fight at the drop of a hat. Yet all I said was: “Hello, how are you?” And then I wished I hadn’t!

Later, when I was far, far away from that person, I chose to pray about it. I asked the Lord why things did not go well? I usually ask Him for appropriate scriptures, for clarity, just to make sure I haven’t floated away into the ether with the pixies. Then the Holy Spirit (He’s the One Who is working on ME remember?) reminded me of some scriptures. Let’s start with John 21:20-22: Jesus is explaining Peter’s future:  “ …Peter noticed him, (John) He asked Jesus, “Master, what’s going to happen to him?” (Jesus said) “:… What is that to you? YOU follow Me!” You know, it is OK for someone else to be God’s business, just bless them and move away. Maybe we should all clear up our own backyard first!

Here’s my second scripture: let’s look at Jonah, who gets very prickly at the Lord because all the Ninevites were saved and he’s not happy about it. Jonah 4:6-11. Jonah thought his enemies were also God’s enemies. He suffered from a wrong premise – and boy can I find those on a bad day! Jonah ended up hot, with a headache!  Father God needs to challenge all our wrong ideas, so we can truly be His kids in action.

Lastly, the Holy Spirit reminded me about Sarah. She found out that she’s going to have a baby … and she’s 90! She laughed. Well, who wouldn’t? Then Lord told her He heard her laugh, but she denied it. And He says this: “No, but you did laugh.” That’s when the penny dropped and I saw that God dealt with her as an individual. Even though we are a corporate identity, He sees each one of us as individuals and treats us accordingly. We will have different things to learn because we are all different parts of His body.

Maybe you and I will not be on the same page at the same time. But let’s always stick with Him! Remember the cute thought about the elephant? (See below) My view may not be the same as yours! Here’s another thought the Holy Spirit gave me – how are we ever going to see the many-sided, multifaceted wisdom of God if everyone is supposed to look the same? Any other people like me would be sooo scary!

The bible says that the Holy Spirit formed us inside our mother’s womb, and we know, that He has a way for each one of us to go. (Proverbs) This means we don’t have to be carbon copies of each other. Instead, we need to concentrate on LETTING the same mind be in us that Jesus had. That’s our fixed point — not the same behaviour but the same MIND that was in Jesus – in US. The mind that says, you are none of my business, and Jesus can save whoever He wants and do things the way He wants to.: “God’s will be done!” Thinking like He does will unify us all. Right about now I’m starting to feel convicted about picking on someone else.

I seem to slide into that logs and specks thingy Jesus talked about, and sadly thats the spot where my own errant attitude escapes me. That’s when the Holy Spirit reminded me none of us are done yet. I can’t find the real me OR the real you if all I can see is wood! (Matthew 7:1-5). We need to look at Jesus, not just each other’s faults. I can’t find the real me while I am taking notes on what is wrong with you! But when I take His loving acceptance in and give it out again, He becomes the yardstick, the plumb line, the example God Himself gave us and I can see better things for both of us.

He has given us the basic foundational tools that the Holy Spirit will apply into our lives – shaping and molding us into someone who is like Him, inside and out. Jesus even took the time to teach us how to please the Father! We do that by doing the Father’s will – John 4:34; believing in the Son – John 6:20; abiding in Him and loving others John 15:9-10; serving Him and others Matthew 6:33; and glorifying the Father 1 Corinthians 10:31.

We all have different learning curves. I try to share mine on this page. But at the bottom of my quest is the desire that each one of us would become ‘the real me that God meant me to be.’ I like to think about that process the way Michelangelo regarded a slab of marble. Someone asked him how he knew to cut the marble the way he did. He replied: “I see a picture in my head of a statue inside the block of marble and I just cut away everything that does not belong on that statue.”

This is what the Lord is doing right now in the Western world. He is cutting away everything that does not belong, to release the Me He knows I can be. Instead of my hardened heart toward you getting in the way. Let’s stop pretending to be holy and submit to the Holy Spirit’s Sculptor’s skill. He’s carved out mountains and valleys – He can fix us! Bye. 👋