Without my specs, I’m blind to most things, including how many fingers I’m holding up. But even with my specs, I know that there are aspects of my life that could be improved if I was aware of them.
Even for those blessed with a self-reflective nature, it’s still easy to fall into a pattern of doing things that might not be the best or most beneficial way. It’s hard to look at your own life objectively and critically — or as I’ve heard it said, it’s difficult to see the moral spinach in your own teeth.
Say you’ve been living in a house for five years — or as I have — for 15 years. Sometimes there are things that you just don’t notice any more, like the dust on the top of the kitchen light or the piece of paint that’s peeled a little over the door frame. Then for some reason — such as cleaning the house for a dinner party — you’re made aware of these things and it’s like a veil’s been lifted from your eyes and you think ‘How did I not notice this before?’ It’s glaringly obvious but you’ve walked past it every day.
The reason I bring this up is because someone spoke to me last week about a certain way I operate and how I could possibly change for the better and it was incredibly true and consequently hurt like hell.
I haven’t stopped thinking about it since that conversation and I’ve been wondering how I didn’t see it before and how great it is that I can do something about it and how thankful I am for having a friend that was brave enough to point it out to me (even though gratitude wasn’t the first feeling I had when they first brought it up).
Chances are, other people can see what you can’t so if you’ve got a close friend or family member that you think you can trust with shedding light on your blind spots, why not ask them to think about it for a week and then sit down with them over coffee?
Apt Bible verse to back me up:
"But if you correct those who care about life, that's different — they'll love you for it! Save your breath for the wise — they'll be wiser for it; tell good people what you know — they'll profit from it. Skilled living gets its start in the fear-of-God, insight into life from knowing a Holy God." Proverbs 9:8,9 (The Message)
Wednesday, February 28, 2007
Can you handle the truth?
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3 comments:
Aren't we just born like that though Sezy??! Just kidding...your post reminded me of a coffee I had with a friend in Nelson, New Zealand.
:) courage on the willingness to be honest.
Ted Koppel wrote, "Our society finds truth too strong a medicine to digest undiluted. in its purest form truth is not a polite tap on the shoulder; it is a howling reproach."
It's a favourite quote of mine, partly because it reveals the raw nature of truth, especially when we are brought into the light of truth and the brokenness of our own souls is exposed. It reminds me every time for the need to present truth with its essential companion to protect the fragility of the human heart - that companion called 'grace'.
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