Pressing Coal

History has shown me that there is in the end very little within our control. Even that which we may feel we control will have an impact reaching far beyond our own limited perception and life spans, and so those things while not within our control are not beyond our influence.

It is thus important to be mindful of our actions in the easy times for they will become our automatic response in the difficult times.

History has also shown me that we cannot expect anyone to care more than we do about anything. Most people will care only a small percentage of the level that we do if in fact they care at all, because they too have lives filled with their own convictions and troubles we may never know.

As we encounter one another then, we would be wise to take nothing for granted, assuming that what we are being allowed to see is the fullness of the situation in the life of anyone. It is usually only a small measure of the full weight they shoulder.

We assume to possess the knowledge of God himself to assume that those on a similar path as ours will have a similar destination, and those with a different path a different destination.

We cannot possibly know the journey of another and so we are wise to listen more than speak so we may understand and encourage each other toward goodness and perseverance as we pursue God and he pursues us.

If there is need among us and we are able to assist with we should do so without hesitation. There will be many times we will not be able to assist. Whatever the case prayer should always be our first course of action even if it can be our only course of action.

Take nothing for granted, what we see, we see through the lens of or own experience, but it may not at all be the reality of anything in the end.

Bury the offenses you endure, forget them without need for apology, so that you may see past them to the heart of the matter, for the heart is deceitful above all else.

God only knows what is happening within our lives and hearts, and the destination of our paths. So let us each treat the other as though God himself were directing their path, because he just might be, even if it doesn't look at all as we think it should.

Consider perhaps it may be greater training now for a greater purpose later. Pressing coal after all is a very dirty business, but worth it in the end.

So be good to yourselves, but of far greater importance, be good to each other.