"I Pitty the Fool"

"Whoever covers and offense seeks love,

but he who repeats a matter separates close friends."

"Even a fool who keeps silent is considered wise;

when he closes his lips, he is deemed intelligent."

- Solomon

I just watched the remake of the A-Team. If you liked it, I'm sorry. I couldn't get myself to watch it to the end, as the plot was paper thin. But something I've always liked is when Mr. T says, "I pity the fool." It's a great line.

"I pity the fool" this morning. I've been repeating an offense over and over again. "I pity the fool." I have all sorts of justifications. I even repeat it in a self-deprecating manner. I'm learning that self-deprecation doesn't mix well with character assassination.

I just repeated the offense not five minutes ago to my pastor. He said that I need to let the experience have it's sanctifying work. Thanks a lot! I don't mind when Jesus sanctifies, but I do mind when other people decide to get involved in my sanctification. And who, pray, would I have Jesus use to sanctify me? Umm, people. Dang!

Why can't people just be nice? It's hard enough to walk through life without people weighing in on the direction we're taking. But that's foolish thinking. We need people. Especially the ones courageous enough to question us. And the more the questions upset us, the more they are hitting sensitive areas.

I've got a ton of pride. I need an 18 wheeler to haul it around. It would be a lot easier to drive a Fiat. And maybe by the time I'm 85, God's sanctifying work will have had it's way to the point that I can haul my pride around in something that small. Of course by then my license will have been revoked for driving on sidewalks and hitting small yappy dogs. I will always hate small yappy dogs (other than my parents beloved "Wallace," who is extremely yappy but is part of the family). But no amount of sanctification will root out my deep-seated hatred. Heaven will have no yappy dogs. If it does, I'm asking God to rethink "paradise."

So back to people. Why do they chafe my ego so? Let me see, could it be the fact that I'm a people-pleaser, that I just want to be liked or that I wish everyone everywhere would see that my way is in fact the way. Could it be the fact that I'm an anxious, neurotic, schizophrenic. These might weigh in to the equation.

If I could only learn to "Cover an offense" and "to keep silent." I pray that God will rescue this poor fool. He will. In fact I blogged yesterday about my offense. Woops. God rescued by disconnecting my computer and the blog got deleted. You see, miracles do happen every day.

My phone just rang and my friend has a pair of over-alls that don't fit him and he was wondering if I'd like to use them for when we go caving. I need to put on over-alls all the time! That way I'd cover-all offenses (stupid pun applause)! And I'd probably keep silent more, as I'd look so goofy that I would prefer people to not notice my presence.

But to get back to the subject and to conclude, before I say something I shouldn't and I hear Mr. T in my head muttering, "I pity the fool!" I'm really, really, really (three "really"s!) glad that my offenses are covered by Jesus. This will be the only real source of my silence in the future. And I hope it will be yours. And I'm learning to be glad for challenging people in my life. At least I'm sort of glad, sometimes, kinda glad I guess, if I have to be...