Be Gentle
“with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
We don’t have to manufacture peace, we only have to maintain it. Now remember the Prince of Peace John 14:27, the Lord Jesus said very clearly:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
You know with the extreme pressure that everyone around the world is under at the moment with this COVID-19 lockdown: wearing masks, sanitizing... One gets to feel that one is a prisoner even in his own home and of course with the unrest everywhere, what may the future hold, people are extremely tense and sensitive.
You and I need to be very careful how we talk to one another and to keep the unity, to bear with one another. We have got to prefer each other and try to understand the other person’s position.
You know, I remember with fondness, my late dad. He lived in a little cottage behind our house - He was a heavy smoker, as was most of his generation. He was also very lonely after the early death of our mother, I would spend as much time as I could with him each day and go up and have a cup of tea with him in the cottage. When he couldn’t drive his car any longer, he depended on me to get his grocery shopping for him.
Early one morning, while I was in the field trying desperately to calibrate my seed planter for the new season (I was really struggling, by the way), I got a message from my dad that he had run out of cigarettes and he needed a packet right now!
Now, the town is 15 km away... I sent a message back to say: “Dad, I will get to town at lunchtime, I am just battling at the moment with a critical situation.” Of course, a message came straight back: “Well then, I will just walk to town.” Oh dear! Needless to say, I had to drop everything, jump into the pick-up, shoot into town to get a packet of cigarettes for my old dad... trying to keep the peace. By the way, on returning, when I gave him his packet of cigarettes, I managed to sort out the problem with the planter immediately - I wonder why... Maybe a bit of divine intervention, do you think?
Have a wonderful day and remember, be gentle with one another.
God bless you and goodbye.