Do You Have This Trait?

Flexibility.

Now I'm not talking about the type of "flexibleness"

that my friend Sandy Clark has.

She is a grandmother (albeit a young one)

who can still do the splits!

I'm extremely jealous, but

I really think I was born unable to do that.

I'm speaking of realizing that others

 just might have a differing opinion from yours.

Of not saying,

"This is the way I've always done such and such,

and I'm not changing."

Of not being so rigid about a routine that it

can't be interrupted.

And perhaps most importantly...

Of not thinking that one's own opinion

 on a subject is infallible.

There is only one area of my life in which I will

never be flexible.

That is the area of my faith. 

(Many of you would call it my religion--

but that's for another blog!)

If the Bible says it, I believe it.  Period.

Infallible.  Irrefutable.  Inflexible.

The rules by which I live are chiseled in stone--

or at least they were.

Now they are chiseled on my heart.

Inflexible people lack a couple of phrases in

their vocabularies.

Those are:

"I think... and

"In my opinion..."

(much less "IMHO"--which is "in my humble opinion"

for my un-techie friends!)

They, instead, state everything they think

as indisputable fact.

Inflexible people would rarely, if ever,

"go with the flow."

They would not make lemonade out of lemons.

("What lemons?")

They would never say, (in faith)

"que sera sera."

Inflexible people would say,

"It's my way or the highway."

I hate to say it, but Baptist church members

 have not been known, historically, for their flexibility.

Now, again, I'm not speaking of our doctrines.

We should be inflexible there.

I'm speaking of some of our practices and man

 created traditions.

Mike Satterfield, one of our pastors, told a

joke Sunday morning which reflects exactly that!

"How many Baptists does it take to change

a lightbulb?"

Response..."CHANGE?!?!"

No...we don't do change well.

I'm very timid to say, but I think I am relatively 

flexible.

I probably run "I think" and "in my opinion"

into the ground.

Most days I don't have all that much of a

schedule that it can't be interrupted

if someone needs a hand or has a plan!

  I coddle and cherish a memory from

Madeline's and Susannah's growing up.

One day Susan and Rob were discussing

wanting to do something which would not have

included the girls.

They were debating how they could handle them.

Madeline said,

"Call Mimi and Gaga.  They'll say,

'We'll be there in 15 minutes!!!'"

Of course, being a grandparent makes

flexibility much more appealing

and rewarding!

I truly believe being flexible, even though it is

not named as part of the fruit of the Spirit,

(Galatians 5:22-23)

is a Godly trait.

 

It seems to me that flexibility would be required

 in order to be "Third."  (As blogged here.) 

Placing God and others before oneself and

being dogmatic are incompatible.

(IMHO!)
 

P.S.  Oh, one more thing.  I realize I'm pretty inflexible

 about my hair, too.