Good morning…
Usually, the lion in me is sleeping. Calm is my style. Peace is my baseline. My roaring lion wakes infrequently, but this week she woke (see the details of these dynamics in our post I Was So Mad).
Over happy hour, I was talking with a person I dearly love and out of the blue her inner lion rose up and attacked.
My lackadaisical inner lion rose up and fought back.
The interaction was brief but the impact was intense. We each stepped on a nerve near and dear to our hearts. She saw the situation one way. I saw it another. She is “my way or the highway,” quite used to winning. I am “let’s just keep peace,” used to submitting. But somehow this longstanding dream of mine seemed very important to defend.
I spent a lot of time with God over the next forty-eight hours. Journaling. Pondering. Mulling everything over. Eventually I decided to take a friend’s advice, “Why don’t you talk with her about how you are feeling? Not trying to change her mind, but just letting her heart feel the mixed emotions your heart is feeling.”
So I asked God to open up the right time, the right space, and to give me the right words if God wanted us to unpack these issues further.
Sure enough, we had a moment together and I asked if we might talk alone. I told her that I had really been hurt, angered, and saddened by her abrupt “That is never happening, never, never ever.” This was the sentence that seemed to kill off my dream. I told her I was grieving the loss of the future vision my mind had been playing with for years.
The brave little lamb in me rose up and spoke quietly, concisely.
The lamb in me woke up the lamb in her. “I didn’t really mean ‘never, never ever.’ We will just have to see how things evolve as we live into the future.”
Our spirits agreed. “We will just have to see how things evolve as we live into the future.” Together with God we will live into the future.
But the gatekeeper opens the gate for the shepherd, and he goes in through it. The sheep know their shepherd’s voice. He calls each of them by name and leads them out. When he has led out all of his sheep, he walks in front of them, and they follow, because they know his voice (John 10:3-4, CEV).
May the Good Shepherd lead us each forward into our future, calming our controlling lions, giving courage to our loving lambs.
…Sue…
P.S. Free photos courtesy of Unsplash.com.
