Stay In Your Yard!

I attended a virtual women's conference recently, and the speaker said something so profound and practical that has stuck with me. Her name was Havilah Cunington, and she said, "I am responsible for the presence I bring into a room." Ultimately, she said, we will be held accountable for our feelings, our attitude, and our choices, and compared it to taking care of a lawn. 

Admittedly, in a literal sense, we are terrible at taking care of our lawn, but we own our home, and we are responsible for the area within our property--for caring for it, keeping it maintained, cultivating it. I am not responsible for any one else's yard, and I do not expect anyone else to come into our yard and take care of it. Likewise, I am responsible for my feelings, attitude, and choices. I have every right to feel my feelings, but what I do with them is what I am held accountable for. 

Here's what hit me hard: I am not responsible for changing people's minds or making others happy! I cannot control other people's feelings or responses. Even God can't do that, because he gave us free will. This was a huge weight lifted to me. How much energy do we spend worrying about this? Especially with no shortage of the divisive issues at hand.

That's not to say we shouldn't stand up and speak up for things that are right and good with wisdom and discernment, but once we do that, what other people do with that is on them. How I choose to respond says everything about me. How someone else chooses to respond says everything about them.

We cannot waste our energy, our life, our power on what other people do or do not do. But if we manage our boundaries well, if we steward our yard well, we don't have time to worry about other people's yards! When we start feeling overwhelmed, angry, bitter, we need to evaluate whose yard we are starting to get into. We can have peace, clarity, and joy when we KNOW what WE are responsible for. What can I control? I can steward my life to use it the best way I know how and have been called to.

I have come back to this time and time again. When faced with a facebook post, political news, and just in relationships in general. Take care of MY yard! The Holy Spirit show us and challenges our feelings, attitudes, and choices. This year has stirred up a lot of emotions and has made me reevaluate a lot of what I thought I knew. It takes humility to admit that we don't have it all figured out. I am a work in progress, and I think it's okay for opinions to change, but what I will ALWAYS do is test my beliefs against Scripture, which I hold to be inherently true and unchanging, and test them against the character of God represented there.

 Ultimately, this is a year of drawing near the Lord in a way unlike ever before, focusing in on the choices I can control, and in doing so, finding peace. May we steward our yards well, and may our labor bear much fruit.