Saturday, November 1, 2008

Does this beeswax belong to you?


Rosalie Grace Carlson is one of my dearest friends. She is very far away right now and I miss her terribly. Perhaps you can relate to this, perhaps not, but I am starting to think that the best friends are those who are enough like you to force you to face yourself, and at the same time different enough to give you a better view of God than you had before.
One of the things Rosie and I agreed on was this: It is none of your beeswax to try and change anyone based on your own feelings, resentments, or wishes. For one thing, it is impossible. For another, the minute you depart from God's Word and start trying to change someone because something about them bugs you, you have ceased to pay attention to God's work in yourself. Don't get me wrong, I am NOT saying we should not confront and encourage one another to seek God better, only that we must do it based on God's Word and through his grace and leading.
I fail at that. When I take my eyes off of God and what he is doing in my heart, and look at what I think he should be doing with the kid sitting next to me, I am no longer within my own beeswax.
My mother tells me nearly every day "Mind your own!" Today I realized that doing that does not only make life easier for others and me less of a pain, it frees me to live for an audience of One. Which equals loving Him more, which equals loving people as He would, which means another paradox. Living solely to conform myself to God shows Him to others, in far clearer ways than my own strength ever could.

P.S. Please critique. I don't mind, really I don't. I won't sue you. Good grief, that sounds so American. But then, if the shoe fits.....I always think of Lucy from the Peanuts when I say Good grief. now i'm really rambling and my punctuation has flushed itself as a result. keep your noses clean. (that means behave yourselves.)

5 comments:

Jules said...

Such a blog post i need to pay attention to, little nosey me with the log in my eye so worried about the speck in my neighbours. Time more people told me to 'Mind my own' I have a lot of things within myself to work on. thanks for the nudge.

Kelsey Sturm said...

Oh, far too often I'm in the same boat! Thanks for the post. And I miss both you and Rosie too! = )

Scotty said...

Lucie Biros!!
I don't know if I emailed you back about this blog or not. But I LOVE IT! It's such a good reminder, put in such straightforward terms, totally your style, very challenging and encouraging. It's really especially applicable to me down here. My anklet broke today! i was so sad, but i still have it, so that made me happy. I'm super excited to see you when I get back! You're definitely getting a big hug when i see you. Keep fighting for joy in Jesus with all your crazy schedules!
-Scotty

Manda (+2) said...

ya know Lu Lu.. you nailed it. I love this post. It's a fantastic point of view. And a MUCH NEEDED reminder for me. It's always been something I struggle with. Impeccable timing here, this week could prove to be hard to mind my own beeswax, going home to IA always temps me to intrude where maybe I don't need to.... hummm. thanks doll!

Rosalie Carlson said...

I was so surprised to see my name in this post!

This is my favorite blog of yours, so far. It's so helpful and it makes me feel like I'm talking to you.
Much love