hammering with the Holy Spirit ...

so, i'm kind of starting to write again.  i've had an interesting week, full of interesting conversations, and the juices can't help but flow.

it's about time.

a friend posted this video on facebook this morning, and it went right along with one of my conversations from yesterday.  i added my comments to his post, but thought they were worth sharing, adding to, and offering up for conversation here.

http://vimeo.com/66753575

i'm not gonna lie.  it made me laugh.  i would argue, however, that a more appropriate ending would have been her taking the nail out later, and then coming back and thanking him for listening.   oftentimes, we know the nails are there. we're not looking for someone else to take them out for us, or to tell us that we need to. we just need to talk about them a bit (okay, fine, analyze them to death; i'll give you that ;) before we get to the point of taking them out ourselves.

his response to that was, "Or. Another alternate ending. One of her friends saying exactly what he said and her saying 'You're exactly right.'"

again, this made me chuckle.   except i respond that way to my friends, too ... well, not too, since i'm not married. maybe it will change once i am. but i think, as a general rule, people don't want to be fixed ~ they just want someone to walk beside them as they figure out how to fix themselves. 

in john 14:26, Jesus says, "but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."

there's such a fine line between speaking truth into someone's life and trying to be their Holy Spirit.  just like i would want them to trust my relationship with the Holy Spirit to point out the nails in my life, i have to trust that for them, as well.  offer input where asked, based on God's truth and what you believe He would have you say to them.  be willing to have, and listen to, frank conversations when necessary.  but, for the most part ...

how can you say to your brother, ‘let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?  (matthew 7:4) 

so, i'll be over here working on my nail, and you can be over there working on yours.  i'll tell you about how i struggle with mine, and you tell me about how you struggle with yours, and we can encourage one another in our nail removal along the way.

thanks for listening :)