Seeking Gentleness, Seeking Simplicity
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.
We all want to be happy, we all want to have peace in our lives and most of us, if we were really honest, would wish to be known as kind and gentle. Oh sure there are plenty who embrace some sort of false bravado, that spouts off, "don't tread on me" sort of personality, but in many cases, its clearly seen by others that this is a wall set up to protect from being hurt and nothing more and if the wall was removed we would find deep down, they just wish they could feel safe enough to be kind and gentle. There are moments in my life when I have felt the need to build a wall that takes away the confidence to be gentle. Gentleness requires great strength and a willingness to not hold on to past hurts. There is nothing gentle about holding a grudge or picking at past hurts so they never heal. I think being anxious hinders a gentle and kind heart, worry eats at folks and makes them assume bad things are going to happen, thus making us too weak to be kind hearted to everyone. Yet, further along the road, this worry can oddly enough, turn us into people pleasers.
Having us do and say things that are motivated only by some kind of inner fear, that anxiousness that robs us of peace.
I want to be a gentle person. I search for the how to of being gentle and kind. I am a work in progress. I am learning that gentleness and simple living are interconnected on so many levels.
It takes faith to not worry, to put aside the need to hold on to things so tight. It takes faith to live simply, walking away from all the things the world tells you you need to have in order to be successful and "with it". It takes faith to be kind and gentle and to walk the road less travelled.
We all want to be happy, we all want to have peace in our lives and most of us, if we were really honest, would wish to be known as kind and gentle. Oh sure there are plenty who embrace some sort of false bravado, that spouts off, "don't tread on me" sort of personality, but in many cases, its clearly seen by others that this is a wall set up to protect from being hurt and nothing more and if the wall was removed we would find deep down, they just wish they could feel safe enough to be kind and gentle. There are moments in my life when I have felt the need to build a wall that takes away the confidence to be gentle. Gentleness requires great strength and a willingness to not hold on to past hurts. There is nothing gentle about holding a grudge or picking at past hurts so they never heal. I think being anxious hinders a gentle and kind heart, worry eats at folks and makes them assume bad things are going to happen, thus making us too weak to be kind hearted to everyone. Yet, further along the road, this worry can oddly enough, turn us into people pleasers.
Having us do and say things that are motivated only by some kind of inner fear, that anxiousness that robs us of peace.
I want to be a gentle person. I search for the how to of being gentle and kind. I am a work in progress. I am learning that gentleness and simple living are interconnected on so many levels.
It takes faith to not worry, to put aside the need to hold on to things so tight. It takes faith to live simply, walking away from all the things the world tells you you need to have in order to be successful and "with it". It takes faith to be kind and gentle and to walk the road less travelled.
Comments
Truer words were never said. How beautifully, simply and clearly you expressed that. Being gentle is a difficult thing in this world. Everything we watch, and read tries to make us believe that gentleness is a sign of weakness, when in reality it is mark of great spiritual strength. It says in the Bible that when it came to people Jesus would become "gentle in the midst of of them like a mother suckling her child". The calmness that comes with trying to be gentles helps us to see people the way that Jesus did, to be moved by love and pity and not by fear. Thank you for your beautiful post. Have a lovely afternoon.
Delisa :)
Good post.
Your words are more of a balm than you could possibly know right now. Thank you for sharing your MorningRambles. :)
Warmest regards,
Teri