The most loving thing you can do/be for those you love who are (at least in this moment of their lives) completely at odds with the fundament of Reality, i.e., God, is to continue living and loving based on that Truth. That is real com-passion, passionate living out the Truth you've coming to know in the depths of your being with/for those you love, regardless of their (hopefully transitory) misguidedness. Kudos to you for making efforts to do that in charitable, fun, and deeply human ways. Merry Christmas.
What you describe is hard (for me) to do. And you do it with such grace and apparent ease — you show real affection for people who are wrong!. This comes through in the way you write about it. I often ask myself, what would Marilyn do?
Holy cow, what a thoughtful post! Is this not one of the main dilemmas of our time, compassion vs truth? The majority of my family are either non believers (mostly agnostic, thankfully), including my wife or 'Luke warm' Christians (as I was for the majority of my life), so I can really relate to this post. I struggle daily with do I rebuke with great zeal and passion about the folly of all things Pride, of the deliberate confusion of children ('gender affirming care' for children is straight up evil, the pronoun game, etc), or the aversion to Proverbs 13:24 (which you speak on so well in 'the cruelty of gentle parenting'?
I believe my Holy Spirit it guiding me to not get in their faces, so much, but be empathetic, yet respectfully hold true to Biblical values. Which I think is what you are conveying in this excellent post. For how can God use us as tools to do His will when we're seen as harsh and unrelenting? But boy, is this hard. I gotta tell you again, I'm loving the authenticity of your writing, fully acknowledging your human worldly nature while revering what's most important, our Creator, our Savior and our Holy guide, God bless you Marilyn!
The most loving thing you can do/be for those you love who are (at least in this moment of their lives) completely at odds with the fundament of Reality, i.e., God, is to continue living and loving based on that Truth. That is real com-passion, passionate living out the Truth you've coming to know in the depths of your being with/for those you love, regardless of their (hopefully transitory) misguidedness. Kudos to you for making efforts to do that in charitable, fun, and deeply human ways. Merry Christmas.
What you describe is hard (for me) to do. And you do it with such grace and apparent ease — you show real affection for people who are wrong!. This comes through in the way you write about it. I often ask myself, what would Marilyn do?
Powerful and timely. Actually brought me to tears. So much has been lost, but there is a way forward….
As always, Marilyn, a wonderful and wonderfully written post. Thank you.
Holy cow, what a thoughtful post! Is this not one of the main dilemmas of our time, compassion vs truth? The majority of my family are either non believers (mostly agnostic, thankfully), including my wife or 'Luke warm' Christians (as I was for the majority of my life), so I can really relate to this post. I struggle daily with do I rebuke with great zeal and passion about the folly of all things Pride, of the deliberate confusion of children ('gender affirming care' for children is straight up evil, the pronoun game, etc), or the aversion to Proverbs 13:24 (which you speak on so well in 'the cruelty of gentle parenting'?
I believe my Holy Spirit it guiding me to not get in their faces, so much, but be empathetic, yet respectfully hold true to Biblical values. Which I think is what you are conveying in this excellent post. For how can God use us as tools to do His will when we're seen as harsh and unrelenting? But boy, is this hard. I gotta tell you again, I'm loving the authenticity of your writing, fully acknowledging your human worldly nature while revering what's most important, our Creator, our Savior and our Holy guide, God bless you Marilyn!