Self-examination

It is incredibly hard for me to self-examine. I don't know what the deal is, but I seem to go blindly on with whatever I am involved in at the moment and then...there it is...something I should have had taken care of. I am busy looking at others an assessing their needs and what they need to work on and too often neglect what I need to do or pay attention to for me to be more Christlike. I think that this is one of the reasons why I appreciate it when people offer me the gift of redemptive criticism.

Like a lot of people, I despise the criticism of a rough edge that I may have here or a method of ministry that I am engaging in there. Yet there is something that I love about the look in the eyes of someone who is offering me input or even admonishment for God's glory and for my benefit. I almost want to cry as I fill my lungs with the sweet air that permeates their counsel because, well, it's the stuff of heaven. It is the very act of God in this all too often wasted life of mine. For God to move a person like this and for this person to love Him and me enough to step out of their busy life to correct me with both the honey and the bitter herbs I need is, and I don't say this lightly, staggering.

I ought to self examine more. There is no question about it. Thanks be to God that He pushes me, at times, to be better equipped to build the Kingdom. And thank you to those people who, in love, snap me out of myself. Even to you, Mr. Kolmer. You have no idea how much your comment meant to me as I tried to navigate the trials and tribulations of the sixth grade.