Velcro Souls

This is a post from Brienne Vanderweert of My Place in This World

Sometimes I have these negative feelings that stick – like Velcro they require force to be ripped apart. It can be a twinge of pride, a feeling of entitlement, impatience, sarcasm, or even anger. How many other Velcro souls are out there like me?

Letting things stick and cling to our hearts?

Do you let it stick when you’ve been in that supermarket check out line forever, patience running thin, it’s almost dinnertime, and the children are acting out right in front of that person who says;

“You sure have your hands full, don’t you?”

In that moment you feel attacked, threatened, how dare they even suggest that children plural is a burden?  Can’t they see you’re following God’s will? You wish you had a comeback for that assuming stranger . That moment sticks to you like glue.

Maybe its your mother-in-law giving unsolicited advice about marriage – to you of all people! Can’t she see that you have it together with her son? She’s divorced, what could she know about a Godly marriage? Her unwanted advice sticks to your heart.

Perhaps it’s a blog you just read; the writer has had it with the heat focused on the size of her family. She’s written all about how she’s had enough. She wants to get the message out that her  family’s choices are nobody’s business and you comment in agreement. Finally someone can see from a Christian’s point of view you think.

Do you let it stick when another Christian holds to a different doctrine than you?

Are we judgmental when we differ on parenting skills with a friend?

How many have sat down in the pew on a Sunday morning looking around at everyone else and letting all the differences, the let downs, the stomped on feelings turn us into people that let it all stick like Velcro?

I have.

I’ve had a Velcro soul all my life – unable to fix it by pretending that feelings don’t matter.

Because they do.

Jesus knew how incredibly important feelings were – how our human hearts will deceive us into thinking that everyone deserves entitlement or pride, that we should always be treated nicely.

No one owes us anything. As a wife and a mother, I fall into the trap of letting everything stick, and build up, until there isn’t anything Godly or good about my intentions at all.

Matthew 5:38-41 “You have heard it said an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. But I say to you, do not resist an evil person; but whoever slaps you on your right cheek , turn to him the other also. If anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt let him have your coat also. Whoever forces you to go one mile go with him two. Give to him who asks of you, and do not turn away from him who wants to borrow from you.” ESV. 

Jesus wasn’t talking about war or crimes; He was talking about personal retaliation. We are not to retaliate when our personal dignity is attacked, stolen, insulted, or mocked.

My family faces mild persecution daily – for our family size, our educational choices, what we say or don’t say, for our political stance and our life choices of what we will wear, drive, or where we chose to live.

While we appear separate from the world, we aren’t immune to the thoughts of this “is mine” and “I am right.”  We can’t share our God to that stranger at the checkout if we feel put out with the redundant statement about our children. We can’t share a bit of our precious Saviour with our well-meaning family members if we dismiss them. Just how many lives daily do we touch with our attitudes?

Today I am trying to tear off those feelings rubbed the wrong way, unstick all the slights, ask God to forgive my wayward heart, and to help me realize that we are the small glimmers used by God in a very dark world.

I am learning to work on my attitude toward those who are shocked, curious, disdainful, uncomfortable and even turned off by the things my Lord would have me do as a Christian.  With His Grace, His words  and His love I want to give my coat also, not just go one mile but go two. I pray that I will be able to give to him who asks of me. Even when it’s a simple question of “are they all yours?”

How many Velcro souls are out there?  With those feelings that hold down and hold us back from sharing more of Christ to those that need Him as much as us. Be kind to those that haven’t been given the eyes to see, the ears to hear. Only knowing what the world has told them.

Rip apart that Velcro, before it sticks for too long.