THE WISDOM OF A FRIEND

THE WISDOM OF A FRIEND

I am a responsible person, but maybe like some of you, I sometimes take on responsibility that doesn’t belong to me, and it can get me in trouble.

When we fall prey to weaknesses in our personalities, it’s great to have a wise spiritual friend to turn to—someone we can trust, who will listen to our problems and tell us the truth.

My best friend Jane is that person. So many times I’ve said “Everyone needs a Jane.” She is extremely wise. She’s like a scout in the frontier days. She knows my capabilities and my weaknesses and she can also spot the traps.

When we lived in South Africa we learned about water buffalo and how, when they know they are being hunted, they circle back and hunt the hunter. Jane’s like a spiritual tracker, who could see what that buffalo is doing and then get out of its way and to safety.

I almost fell into the “taking on someone else’s responsibility” trap this week.

I started to fill out some paperwork I was given and I didn’t feel at peace with it. Something just wasn’t right and I didn’t know what it was. I mulled it over for three days and it was still bothering me so I told the story to Jane.

She instantly saw it for what it was spiritually – a trap!

It was not any of my business to handle the paperwork. It was given to me by a new worker, and being “responsible,” I took it. When Jane pointed that out, I realized that although the paperwork wasn’t given to the wrong person on purpose, and even though I could have easily filled it out, it wasn’t my job. I sure didn’t want to put a rift between my boss and myself over a silly piece of paperwork.

When we can see things clearly, as to what our true responsibility is and what it’s not, we stay free from anxiety and stress in that area. From now on, if I’m approached with a task that belongs to my boss, I will just say, “See Larry, he’ll handle it.” It will make my life so much easier.

Jane helped me with that. If you don’t have a spiritual scout to watch out for you and who will listen and honestly help you, you can certainly pray for someone to come your way and I’ll pray with you. You’ll be truly blessed.

Love, Carolyn

Check out my first book, WINGS: A JOURNEY IN FAITH http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&index=aps&keywords=WINGS%20Carolyn%20molica&linkCode=ur2&tag=jmbcsds-20&linkId=XQMVLVZYNBLYAGEM