Talking Mean

I have a confession to make: I have a mouth. Not a potty mouth, but a mouth. Two lips. One tongue. It’s pretty good at French kissing (sorry – too much information). But it’s also pretty good at doing something else around My Boy: talking mean.

I don’t set out to do it. I don’t wake up in the morning and say, “I’d like to be a witch today.”  I don’t set out to be judgmental about people. But I am.

It seems harmless. My Boy gets the earful. I’m done gossiping. I know my words will never be repeated.

End of story.

Until recently when my heart began to realize… it’s not the repeating that’s so hurtful. It’s my attitude. My feeling that I could be better than the person I’m talking about.

When the truth is, I have no idea what it’s like to be that person. I have no idea what they’re going through.

Last winter I lay on the floor and watched the snow hit my window. Little pellets of ice... when they made contact with the window pane, they melted into tiny trickles of water.

That's the way I want my life to be. I want everyone who comes in contact with me to be forever altered by grace.

But I can't change their lives. I'm only the window pane... and God is the heating force behind that pane.

I want Him to give me His passion... His warmth... His love for the world...

So this winter as the snow returns, so does the realization that when we show our hearts we only show a little.

People on the outside can't get all the way in. They can only see through the glass... get a glimpse... a tiny glimpse... of who we are.

It’s my prayer that I’ll not judge people just by looking through their window panes...

Because there's so much more to be discovered.

Want to join me on my thirty day quest for grace? 

Of course I believe it will last longer than that, but the next thirty days are my intentional quest – for my life, and for the lives of those whose window panes I look through. I’ll be blogging about it here. 

{Leave a comment if you’d like to accept this challenge as winter returns…}

*Photo Source: Microsoft Clip Art