“And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own?” Matthew 7:3
“There are two ways to get enough. One is to accumulate more. The other is to desire less.”
G.K. Chesterton
It is so easy to point out the speck in our neighbor’s eye and miss the plank in our own. We tend to think…
“If only I had a little more money; not, if only I desired a little less.”
“If only she were less rude; not, if only I were more patient and gentle.”
“If only he would say sorry; not, how can I take the first step and apologize?”
“If only they were more lovable; not, if only I showed the same unconditional love God shows me.”
“If only I had a different situation; not, how can I grow within what I have been given?”
“If only this world were less evil; not, if only I were a brighter light within it.”
I believe that it is in our prideful sinful nature to point and blame. If the problem is somewhere “out there”, then there is nothing wrong with me. We see it from the beginning in the book of Genesis. “She did it. He made me do it. The snake's to blame here…”
Consider some of the frustrations that you have and ways you want to blame in some way or another. Is there possibly an internal change that God might have you make? Perhaps in some, if not many cases, what we need is not an external solution, but an internal resolution to become who God desires us to be.
Perhaps seek not so much to change her, change him, change them, change that, change this… but to pray, Lord, change ME.