Hard Bits

There are areas of the Christ-like life that are not all that hard for me to do (I will think of one in a minute here... well... lets move on... I will get back to this in a minute).  Then there are those that require a slight bit of effort.  Depending on the situation... ahhh... here is one that can be easy, I knew there was an easy one (I think it may be to early to really think)... -don't commit murder- (most of the time anyway, sometimes a little harder, there has been A time or two when I wanted to get very violent towards someone and it was an option I really entertained... like when a guy came at me with a shovel... I also did put my foot through a pickup topper one time because I was so angery.  Don't worry... it wasn't my topper).  Okay back to the topic at hand... a moderate one... ohhh!  I just got another easy one, for me anyway - not to worry about tomorrow- I can handle this one a vast majority of the time maybe even 99+% of the time, a real yawner, no problem...  oh yeah, moderately hard - love your neighbor as yourself, which is closely related to the thought "what credit is it to you to love those that love you".  This one may vary depending how big your sphere of neighbor goes or who qualifies for your list of  being neighbor.  (To ease your wondering and wandering mind, I didn't hurt my foot on the topper.)  Now for a little bit of a harder one (at least for me, I think we all have weaknesses that vary, so one that is easier for me to live out may be harder for you) It comes out of 1Cor 6 and verse 7.  Here Paul is talking about law suits, but it goes along with 1Cor 13 that "love bears all things",  he wrote "Why do ye not rather take wrong? Why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?".  It is keeping a right attitude and forgiving even though you may never bring the incident up to the other person.  Lets say, someone does or says something wrong to you, my inclination is to avoid withdraw myself from them, internally and/or externally (I think it is a natural self preservation reaction... just staying away from danger).  There are people that we or in this instance I have to deal with that makes forgiving and completely moving on an absolutely necessary thing, like someone you deal with at work constantly or even a spouse (whether they ever know of the offense or not). Then there are those that you go through the same process of forgiveness, but they are "toxic".  They are the type that can "go off" at anytime. (BTW <by the way> the topper was on the ground and not on the pickup.  Although I can physically do a lot, kung fuishness is not one of them.)  This is one area that I am dealing with.  Do I keep my distance to avoid conflict or withdraw only when I see the timer ticking down to avoid the explosion? Or am I required to stay and always work through the coming conflict?  Do I stay away so the explosion goes off with me not there and it is then not my problem?  Do I keep myself back and keep just a less than casual relationship with them?  Again this is one I am working through.  (The topper had been left by the previous owner, so technically it was mine to do as I wanted to and at the time it was a lawn ornament.)  What is it that makes things hard?  Probably the number one issue would be the level of your flesh at the moment.  What to do for the hard bits?  Call on the grace of God!  "Father, HELP! I need your ability NOW!...I take yours and give you mine (see I'll give you $100 U.S. for your $100 of Monopoly money blog).   In the end, with a big hole in it,  the topper was removed and the grass grew better, don't worry about this incident...I was wearing boots at the time and probably happened 20 years ago.... and God has dealt with that anger issue, Hiii YAAAAA!