share – KARLA LEES

Meet people where they are, not where you’d like them to be.

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Every one you meet has a story, just like you and I.
Their story may not be visible on the outside.
Just like you and I.

There is more that goes on inside every book beyond the title on the front & the summary on the back cover.

Because, just like you and I, we don’t let it all out when we first meet people.

We like to look presentable until we know the person we meet is safe to share our real story with.

Like a first date. We take care in choosing our outfit, practicing our answers, and try to make sure we are meeting in a location we can easily escape from, especially if its a blind date. We might even have back up in case our antenna picks up any weirdness.

But just like the rows and rows of novels and hardcovers in the bookstore, each and every book has an aspect to their story that the reader doesn’t expect. A character behaves in a way you don’t expect, a situation has your holding your breath. The unexpected catches your attention, and draws you in to the story.

Every person we meet has a story deep beneath the face they show to the world. Addictions, losses, pain, brokenness, illness, abuse…each and everyone has a unique twist, as no two people are exactly alike.

Everyone you meet has their own story.

As His followers, we need to be listening to His prompting, discerning:
When to offer the same grace God extended you when you met Him for the first time.
When shame needs to be met with a hand of mercy.
When love needs to be poured into a wound until it is made clean and healing can commence.
When kindness in a smile or caring look will soften a hard heart as it begins its journey back to wholeness.

Everyone you meet is beloved by God, and He wants us to meet them where they are at, just as He does the same with us.

When we hear where people are at, it can be unnerving.

Why? When we look into someone else’s story, it can remind us of our own.

That can make us uncomfortable, if we are being honest with ourselves.

I really enjoy learning about the life of King David. But not so much from his story as told by the storytellers, but His own words in the Psalms he wrote, and sang in His day. Honest, gut wrenchingly moving, they are a testimony that we can meet God, be changed for the better, yet be ourselves through the process.

God meets us where we are at.

Let’s offer the same gift to those we meet around us.

Accepting people where they are at is God’s specialty, but it doesn’t end there. He begins to help us write the story He intends for our lives, as we meet and hang out on a regular basis with Him.

We can rest confident that He won’t leave us where He found us.

There are no chance meetings in God’s plans.

If God brings someone into your life, He has a purpose for your meeting.

It may be to help Him be known to the one you meet, or because they have more of Him to reveal to you through their story.

Be yourself.
Accept people where they are at.
Meet up with God.
The world will be a much better place the more we do so.
Imagine the stories He will be writing!
Imagine the rewritten masterpiece you will be from meeting Him!

I am a put it back in its spot kinda gal.
Not too OCD about it, but I like to be able to easily find my stuff. My son is a lot like me in this way.

Not so my hubby or daughter. They have the ‘where it lands, there it will stay’ approach when they gets stressed or are working too hard, which is most of the time it seems.

This causes pile ups where open space should be.

I have five must have open/keep it tidy areas in my small cozy home:
My coffee table
My front hall
My kitchen counters & table
My main bathroom counter
The bottom of the stairs

I don’t care about toilet paper or toothpaste unless you leave me without any. Another story for another day!

Nor the computer desk (about a 1-2 min straighten job) which we all share in our living room.

But when movies get randomly placed about the house, stuff is piled right by the front door so its the first thing you see when you come in my home, and there is more stuff in the way so I can’t get into my basement, well I get ticked.

Annoyed.

I make sure that I have certain foods in the house for my family members, I make sure I pay the bills, arrange transportation when needed, do the bulk of the laundry, the grocery shopping and meal planning. The taxes. Vacation planning.

Not whining, coz I love my family, and want to serve. Just saying.

All of the above, like many other moms, on top of working outside the home.

And I am tired of feeling it is ALL on my plate, ALL of the time.

So today, after a cool down period offsite, I came home and spoke up.

My son is taking on a few more weekly chores, which he can choose to do whenever, as long as they get done.

My daughter has a major project she needs to get done on time or a new needed item she wants will not be purchased next weekend.

My hubby has agreed to do a few of the smaller weekly jobs I cannot do easily due to allergies/physical challenges.

The laundry and cooking schedule is going up later tonight. You are on unless you arrange a trade!

After a frustrating inconvenient hour trying to locate MY hairbrush, the final straw for me today, I realized that part of the problem was me.

You see, NOT speaking up and trying to do it all yourself is not only crazy for its superhero mentality, it is overwhelmingly not realistic.

It is okay to say you can’t, or you need help.

Its okay to say no, you are not meeting my needs (not wants in this case).

In fact, its healthier than keeping it in and brooding over situations like this, which can lead to a sudden storm of anger over a smaller irritation yet to come….potentially damaging relationships in the burst of emotions.

So I have accepted that it is okay that I like things mostly in their place. That I want to be tidy, not an obsessive neat freak- but comfortable to have any friend (mine, hubby’s or the kids’) stop by and visit last minute without being embarrassed by the state of my home.

I want to feel welcome in my home.
Free to be me, but also teach and demonstrate to the rest of my family the art of consideration for those we live with- whether family, friends, roommates or pets.

The crisis is over.
I found my hairbrush.
The stairs have been cleared of the items that tried to trip me last night.
I also discovered a few new boundaries going into place in the process.

Family is a team, not full of solo participants. All working together for the good of the whole.

Its about we, not just me’s.