Have you ever seen that part in the movie when the girl (or guy) is standing around minding their own business and all of a sudden the hero tackles them to the ground or pushes them out of harms way? The unsuspecting loved one initially has no idea what hit them. Their first instinct is to say to the hero, "what the heck did you do that for? That hurt." Then they realize that by pushing them down or out of the way the hero was able to remove them from harms way. It could have been a moving bus, a bullet, a bomb or something that the unsuspecting loved one couldn't see but the hero could. That scene is played out all the time in movies.
Recently I have been blindly walking towards the edge of a cliff with a really precipitous fall. For some reason my blinders were on in full force. All I could see was the pretty blue sky, the sun shining, the birds chirping not realizing that all the while I was about to fall off this cliff. A friend who loves me dearly tried to tell me gently that I was about to walk off a cliff but I could not hear her. So she started to talk even louder to the point where she had to basically whack me back into reality. I will tell you that the whack hurt. I even became angry at the friend. I mean here I was trying to enjoy my walk on what seemed to be a beautiful day and she wanted to rain on my parade and I was angry at her for that. Then one day God removed the blinders from my eyes and I was finally able to see the cliff and it was really really really deep. The consequences of falling of would have permanently and deeply damaging. It was only at that point that I was able to appreciate what my friend had done for me. If she had continued to be gentle, delicate and soft spoken I probably would have missed the message but it was only because she whacked me back into reality and started to talk really loud that I started to pay attention. I am glad I did.
The moral of this story is never be afraid of telling someone the truth in love. Sometimes the truth hurts and sometimes people are not ready to hear it but if you really care about someone and you see them walking off a cliff you are doing them a disservice by not saying anything to them. Love is patient. Be patient with your loved ones and allow them the space to come to their own realizations. However, if you see them quickly approaching a cliff know that you might have to whack some sense into them.
If you are the person who someone is trying to talk some sense into--listen. If you know that that person loves you, has your best interests at heart, and knows what they are talking about (that part is important--don't suffer fools) then listen. Consider for a second that maybe that person does know what they are talking about. Listen.
To the person who I am referring to in this post (you know who you are) thank you. Thank you for loving me enough to not let me self-destruct. Thank you for loving me enough to tell me the truth even though it hurt and even though I really wasn't trying to hear it. Thank you. I appreciate you and I thank God for putting you in my life.
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