iron sharpens iron

"The person you would most not want to be with in community will always be there."
Henri Nouwen


I first heard this quote two years ago when I was at a residency program. It rang true for me. For whatever reason, there is almost always someone, somewhere that I am, that I would rather not be there. Did you follow that?

I know this is most “unchristian’ of me to admit but it is true. I am not so evolved that I love everyone equally. In fact, there are some that I really struggle with. And for some reason, God makes sure that I usually have one of those people in my path.

Something else I have discovered is that these people have something in common….they usually have some quality I have! Did that ever happen to you? You find yourself rubbed the wrong way by someone. You take some time to think about what it is that bothers you and realize it is a quality you also have. But…you give yourself a pass because that quality is a positive in you and just plain annoying in this other person.

God gently reveals these lies to me. He places other people who are either too much like me or not like me at all to help work out His purposes in my life.

Iron sharpens irons…..that’s how the psalmist puts it. We need each other, and the forging quality of relationships, to work off the rough edges and craft us into individuals who reflect God.

I am trying to be thankful for those people who mirror to me things I need to surrender to God. I also need to humble myself and realize I am THAT person for someone else. I am the one that is someone else’s ‘person they would not want to be in community with’.

It goes back to the basics. It goes back to love. It goes back to looking for the beauty in each other. It goes back to allowing God to do the work in our lives any way He chooses. And if He chooses to use me to work in you or you to work in me….may it be so.

Who are those people in your life? Consider spending some time today thinking about them, what God might want to be showing you through your interaction with them. Maybe we can both get to the place where we can actually thank God for their presence in our lives.

Grace and Peace,
Deb