Ah gentleness. The most difficult of the fruit of the Spirit for me. All of my life I have read how women are supposed to be gentle and quiet in spirit. I always admired gracious, graceful, delicate women, mainly because that couldn't be more opposite of my personality. The opposite of gracious? Perhaps sarcastic, severe, ungiving. The opposite of graceful? Perhaps careless, awkward. The opposite of delicate? Perhaps robust, strong.
Being gentle really has nothing to do with personality or circumstances. How God hard-wired my personality doesn't make being gentle impossible. Gentleness basically means to stop fighting God, accepting His dealings with us, considering them as good.
Last year was hard on me on many levels, and I fought tooth-and-nail with what God wanted to teach me. I ignored what I already knew and continued on my own strength. I resisted being restrained. I believe it is in the letting go, releasing control of what is "safe", being willing to step into the unknown that leads us closer to God. I am committing myself to submissiveness, no longer fighting God in this maturing process. This is the exercise of gentleness. As Beth Moore describes it: responsibility with power.
I sometimes find myself wanting to hang on to some level of control over an emotional or difficult issue, my "right" to be mad about something. Not accepting God's dealing with us will cause us to be bitter. And when I allow myself to go there, I'm most definitely not exercising a gentle spirit.
I have a lot of goals for 2023, but I found myself drawn to the opposite when it came to what I wanted to work on this year. I want this year to be the one where I choose to be gentle: with my words, with my actions, with my expectations, and over all with the way I carry myself.
Much Love,
Beth
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