Charlie Brown, try hard as he might, was always frustrated by his friend Lucy. She was a person whose relational abilities were adversarial in nature regardless of the situation. I’ve met my “Lucy.” Recently, someone has come into an area of my life that leaves me feeling like Charlie Brown always felt when Lucy was around: defeated, exasperated, impatient and sometimes, a little angry.
Charlie was always trying to understand people, to make allowances for them. I’ve found that, lately, I’ve been trying to do the same. Why is this Lucy of mine so defensive all the time? What’s with the constant interrupting? What’s with all the “talk to the hand” signs? Why can’t Lucy just listen once in a while? Why Lucy always be flapping her gums?
Just when you think you’ve mastered something, God will want to bring you to a higher level of understanding, for the simple reason that we will never completely master anything – not on this side of eternity. Just to keep me humble and growing, He places me in situations, with people who test and try me, to see if I’m willing to press on in His way.
“Serenity now, Lord!” is something I find myself repeating after every prolonged period of time in Lucy’s presence. Praying to change my heart and give me insight, perspective and understanding of why Lucy is the way she is has become something of a ritual. Will it ever come??
There are days when Christ-like character seems more and more unattainable. In my heart, soul and mind, I know that His characteristics should be ever increasing fruit being produced in me. In 2nd Peter 1:5-8, Peter wrote, “make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
I fully understand the whys, the consequences, and/or the rewards of Peter’s caution. What I cling to, during this time, is the “how to.” This I found in James 1:2-5, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, (or anything else), let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.”
Like Tom Petty says, “the waiting is the hardest part.”
