When ideals become idols: On confrontation

I had the day off from work today. I planned to do many things... and I actually got a few of them done, but this afternoon I had planned to build up a buffer of blog posts to help keep me on track this month.

Instead, I found myself writing a very long email.

It's a little ironic that I still spend a considerable amount of time writing today, but it just wasn't the kind of writing that you publish. This was the kind of blunt, straightforward, set-you-straight kind of writing that needed to be addressed between me and a fellow believer about certain actions that should or should not take place in certain situations between fellow believers.

It wasn't easy. But it had to be done. Sometimes even when two people believe in the same Savior, love Him with the same passion and have the same Spirit dwelling within them, they still have certain views of the world that can be obstacles to each other -- certain ideals that they've unknowingly set in another's path that can become a stumbling block.

I had to let this person know they were setting a stumbling block in my path, and I wasn't going to tolerate it.

So, while I wait for a response and pray that my message got through in a loving, yet truthful way... Here's to openness. Here's to honesty. Here's to sharing and bearing each other's burdens, even when it means letting someone know that something they are doing is affecting you in a negative way.

Grace and Peace,

Esther