Thursday, July 31, 2008

Accepting

"If monotony tries me, and I cannot stand drudgery; if stupid people fret me and the little ruffles set me on edge; if I make much of the trifles of life, then I know nothing of Calvary love."
-Amy Carmichael

Lord, Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.-- My all-time favorite quote (and I'm big on quotes so that's saying a lot)

I'm faced with a challenge today... Acceptance. Would anyone care to agree that acceptance is one of the hardest challenges we face? Yet, I've been convicted about accepting some things in my life.
I need to learn to accept who I am. The Lord made every part of me. He made me (physically) the way he wanted me. He made me short, with brown hair, and brown eyes. I must learn to accept that I am not a tall, blue-eyed, blond. To not accept this is to say that God made a mistake. I wish I could get that through my own head.
I need to learn to accept the way my life is right now. Sometimes things are just hard. But that never changes that fact that God is still good. I must accept that He has a plan and that He hasn't forgotten me. He knows exactly where I am and what I need and what my family needs. He's always working out His purpose.
I need to learn to accept others. This is a hard one for me for some reason. I seem to have a tendency to want everyone to be like me... I mean, to have the same standards and convictions about things as I do and to care about the same things I do. I have got to learn to accept others where they are. We should never just simply accept sin, but we must allow people time to grow. I seem to always forget that I have not always been where I am now, spiritually. Nor have I attained some great perfection by any means. I can't get mad at people because they don't have the same standards about dress, music, dating, church attendance, or anything else. I didn't use to have these standards either.
It's all about accepting. That's why my prayer is that the Lord would give me peace to accept those things that I cannot change but at the same time the courage to change the things that I have to ability and responsibility to change. And of course, I'm gonna need wisdom to know the difference sometimes, between the things that I can and the things that I cannot change.
Hope this can help someone who maybe has a problem accepting things.

3 comments:

Lizz and Sky said...

Wow, what you wrote is so true! I have such a hard time being patient with people who could seem to care less about things that I hold in high respect. Acceptence is the key, you're right on it!

Anonymous said...

Very well said Jen. By the same token be we need to be careful about being judgmental toward those with standards higher than ours that we may consider fanatical or extreme, because by the grace of God if we continue to grow we may also reach that level of sanctification someday. Always be striving for the next level. Somewhere there is someone looking at us wondering why we won't sell out to God.

Dad

Calvary said...

I know exactly what you mean, Jen. It's hard to see so many people who don't have standards. You're so right.