SHEsaysWITHaSMILE.blogspot.com

Quoting Dr Maya Angelou. (me!) sandra, tvgp

-none of this has anything to do with my birthday for which i am only swimming in gratitude. rather.. God has put this on my heart as a responsibility to write about before i can write about anything else.

i am not excited or proud. i am slightly reluctant, but time and life experience have trained me not to argue; but to surrender.

so here you go Jesus.  -this is for you:

Now.  write now today, at age 50, if you were to engage me in conversation and tell me  "so n so considers it an insult if a guy pulls out a condom because she interprets it as a sign he thinks she is  -unclean.. He needs to protect himself from her possible STD. -and she knows she is safe to have sex with.."

my immediate internal response would be..  'what an idiot.. doesn't she know she needs to protect herself?!?!!'

but that would go through a large strain hole filter and might come out something like, 'that is so sad..   and immature..  and ignorant..  bless her heart..   she really doesn't get it, does she..

did you try to explain?   and.. could she receive it and understand it even if you did?'

-because two women talking to each other who are both in their 50's have the common awareness now..   that when THEY were younger..

stupid and ignorant.  There WERE people who DID TRY to educate and help and explain things to them.. but they were too young and ignorant and immature and stupid  -and/or love struck... to receive and understand the information

even if the information was true, helpful, valuable, wise and correct and noble and rational and lifesaving..

so, as you get older and reflect back.. you become painfully aware that the most important question is not

"Did you explain it...?"

the most important question is, instead:

"IF you explained it..  could she hear it and receive?"

-this is another example of why you see so often in the bible the saying, 'let those who have ears hear..'. /or something of that nature.

and it is also an example of what Dr. Maya Angelou meant when she said,  -quite famously and repeatedly:

"when you know better, you do better."

now, if we go back to my original scenario...  at age 50 I can hear about that girl and see her ignorance, immaturity and stupidity write away.

and if you approached me at age 40.. I could see it write away too.

age 30; same.   and age 25; same.    -but before that..   at age 21 or so:

I was that girl.   I was in fact: that stupid; that ignorant; and that immature.

and God loved me write through it all...

Amen!

posted by SHE @ 10:01 AM