What Can We Do Against Great Evil?
On Tuesday morning I was crabby -the kind of crabby that you know is unreasonable but that rises up inside you as a great beast.
I was afraid for the very safety of my guys.
My son had left a mess where he had been sitting in the living room the night before, and I could not believe the anger boiling inside me -a feeling out of proportion to the insignificance of the crime. I knew all this was coming from two days of travel and pent up grieving and a certain hormonal event that I will not talk about over the internet.
Lord Jesus, please help me not to hurt that child when he comes down the stairs for school, I prayed.
Down he came, and I swallowed big mouth fulls of lecturing words, spoke kindly to him, kissed him on the cheek, and wished him a good day at school.
Huge exhale.
He did not even know to thank God when he left the house unscathed.
On that same crabby day, I was scrolling on Facebook. You know, because I didn’t have anything to unpack or laundry to do after being gone for days. It seemed that every third post had a picture of men in orange jumpsuits, backed by men in black.
Incomprehensible such evil.
But on that day I was experiencing my own brush with evil. My own anger threatened to do its work of cruelty through me.
Paul tells the Roman believers:
Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:21 NIV)
When we feel darkness rise up within us, in the power of Christ we can do good instead of bad. We can suck in angry words, speak kindly, be gracious. We can serve instead of demand. We can kiss instead of strike.
We are the people God has dressed in white.
Imagine us all in a line, dressed from head-to-toe in spotless garments -standing only a foot behind our husbands, our children, our co-workers. What good can we do toward these people?
How can we benefit them?
How can we encourage them?
How can we speak life to them?
By the grace of God, this week I overcame the black shadow of crabby and replaced it with kindness.
What darkness can you overcome?
I thank you. My family thanks you. My friends thank you. The anonymous folks that cross my path thank you.
You’ve made me teary with these words.
“He did not even know to thank God when he left the house unscathed.”
Oh. my. goodness. This just makes me laugh! How true that is some days! 🙂 I love this thought, though, that I am the one dressed in white and standing in encouragement and love to my family. Thank you, again, for sharing your heart!
Sometimes you have to celebrate that you just haven’t hurt anybody today. haha And yes, I love picturing you in white, too. We are an army of much greater force than the darkness in this world.
Dear Christy,
Thank you so much for your encouragement today. I have definitely had those days. You make me feel normal 🙂
I don’t know whether to say you’re welcome or not. LOL