home | board | compass | prayer | eCard

[Main Index]

10/27/2003 Entry: "Kind rebukes"

Half the battle in life is picking good friends, or at least being fortunate to find some.

You know the type, the friends that can rebuke (admonish, advise, aid) with gentleness and kindness when you are thrashing about and not doing yourself and those around you much good.If someone is harsh, I get my back up. Harsh I can usually handle. I expect it and tune out.It's gentleness that breaks me every time.

This is from someone I'm honoured to call friend. I really needed to hear it.

1 Peter 2:4-8 speaks of Christ the corner stone and the church as being made up of living stones.

A few weeks ago I was doing some teaching at home group. I took a few lovely river stones which had been through a tumbler and a few stones from my back lane's road base. The first were polished, slippery,rounded and smooth. They were "individuals" and I could not stack them at all. They slid off each other and my stack ended up one layer deep on the tabletop.

The road base was angular and hard. The stones could be stacked easily, fitting against each other in their angles.

That's what we are like. When we are fitted together we then pack down hard, like a dry stone wall which can last for centuries without mortar. Unfortunately, in the process of packing down, we bang up against each other and that hurts. Rough edges which poke out are broken off and that hurts too. And the bigger stones pack a bit of weight behind them and do more damage. (That's what you and ** were).

And we can't choose where we are built either. The builder does that.

Posted by Jan @ 10/28/2003 06:16 AM CST