Next week, we will have been living in Nebraska for a year already!
It’s hard to believe last year at this time we barely knew the people who are so intricate in our everyday lives today. It is such a blessing to stop and think about how much God has provided for us relationally over the past year.
Even though it’s been a year, I feel like I’m still learning new things about our area constantly.
Sometimes the hard way.
Earlier this month, I took our dog, Payton, out for a walk after the boys went to bed. I decided since it was just the two of us, I’d take a different route than we’ve gone before in our community.
She’s not typically the most focused walker, so most of the time I’m directing her where to go and reminding her to stay on the sidewalk.
After getting her back on track yet again, it was time to cross the road. She was hesitant to go across with me, which seemed strange, but I just kept nudging her on.
Then, another half a block down the sidewalk, she all of a sudden laid down in the middle of the path. She’s gotten pretty out of shape for a dog of her small stature, so I figured she was just wimping out and dramatically quitting.
“Come on, Payt” I said, half chuckling at her, half getting frustrated that we were just a few blocks from home and she decided to lay down.
With more prompting, she got back up, but didn’t move forward. She didn’t make any sounds that anything was really bothering her, so I just kept coaxing her on until we got to our house.
When we got inside the house, I took her off her leash and told her to get some water, that will help her feel better.
It wasn’t until I bent down to take her harness off that something poked my hand!
When I looked closer, I realized she was covered in burrs (or Burdox if you’re from the East Coast, or Stickers if you’re from Nebraska).
All over her belly, legs, and in her paws were these spiky, prickly little balls she must have picked up at some point on our walk.
I felt so bad! I didn’t know that was what was going on with her, and I had just spent the last couple blocks making her walk home while every step was embedding the burrs deeper into her paw pads!
Matt and I spent the better part of the rest of the evening with tweezers and clippers freeing Payton of all the burrs.
In my own Bible reading a few days later, God reminded me of poor Payton’s painful walk home as I read in Hebrews.
Hebrews 10 says,
“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV)
The word that the writer uses for “consider” here means “to take notice of, or detect”.
We have a responsibility as Christians to not only be willing to stir up and encourage one another, but to be diligent to take notice of how best to do that.
As I walked Payton, I treated her laying down as if she was tired and needed encouragement to get back up and push through her unfit fatigue.
I acted according to what I assumed was happening.
Had I taken the time to look closer and take notice of what she was really reacting to and feeling, I would have been able to better care for her and encourage her the way that she needed!
She didn’t need tough love and some water when we got home. She needed me to keep her off her feet so the burrs would stop stabbing her skin and spend the evening with tweezers and a flashlight to relieve the painful issue.
With good intention, we can easily fall into the same treatment of the people around us.
Our actions on how to take care of people are going to be based on what we think their issue or struggle is and what they need in light of that. But if we don’t take the time to listen to them and consider or take notice of what they are truly feeling and walking through, our stirring up of one another will be received more like the treatment Proverbs talks about:
“Whoever sings songs to a heavy heart is like one who takes off a garment on a cold day.” Proverbs 25:20 (ESV)
Now, this thought is two-fold.
If we are Christians, we are meant to stir up one another, and also to BE STIRRED UP by one another.
And if we are to allow people to do that for us, we need to be willing to be noticed.
This seems like an obvious concept, but do we really act in this way when it comes to what we are walking through?
Are we quick to let others in as they consider how to encourage us? Or are we more likely to sit in our false comfort of keeping our painful burrs to ourselves?
I was convicted of this as the Holy Spirit opened my eyes to the other side of what it means to live my life as Hebrews 10 describes. I am not one to quickly disclose my own burrs until I’m past walking in the painful period and much happier to share how God brought me through.
It’s uncomfortable to speak of our burrs, and risky because there’s always a chance that someone will misunderstand or even see you as weaker than how they once perceived you.
But if God speaks of it in His Word, then it’s not only for our good to live this way, it’s necessary so that we can walk this life in the way He has intended for us.
So I want to be faithful in putting my steps where my mouth is.
One of our burrs that we are feeling with each step right now, as many others are too, is the weight of our student loans. Payments are starting up again, and our budget has not had to accommodate that monthly bill in quite some time. We’re honestly not too worried. God has been faithful to provide more ways than we can count in the last 7 years of our marriage, and it’s illogical to even consider He won’t continue to take care of us.
But the reality of our situation is still felt.
As I shared this with a faithful couple whom we have grown to trust and learn so much from over our last year here, they were quick to share their own stories of how God has come through for them in their own similar situations throughout their marriage.
And instead of feeling embarrassed, or worried about how differently I’d be perceived by them after sharing such an intimate look into our lives, I went to bed that night so encouraged.
Has our situation changed? No.
But my heart has.
Hearing their own experiences gave me encouragement and stirred me up to keep trusting God and remember how good He is to me and always will be.
And what hit me was that they would not have known to share those personal stories with us unless we had allowed them to take notice of what we’re walking through.
I got to see a glimpse of God’s goodness in telling us not to neglect being together, but to consider one another’s personal walks, and be used by Him to make an encouraging difference in their hearts right where they are.
Are you quick to notice how to encourage those around you?
Are you willing to be noticed by those wanting to know how to encourage you?
From one of His children to another,
Christi