Being Made Approachable Through My "Holy Spirit Filter"

Have you ever had to be corrected?

I haven't...well, there was that one time...
HA!

Just kidding.
I actually think that I am in need of daily correction (aren't we all?).

If it's not from my 9-year-old-know-it-all, it is from my 2-year-old know-it-all (those are always fun moments), and then sometimes it is even from my husband and my friend, and most certainly by the Holy Spirit who resides within.

If you have been around here for much time, you know that I carry a burden to be whole-heartedly and sometimes painfully and brutally honest.

But that honesty comes with a price tag.

I have to be approachable.
I have to be teachable.

It's a tough place to be.  Nobody likes or enjoys people to tell them that they are wrong or need to change or reevaluate something.  And it's never fun to be called out on something, especially in front of other people.  It often gives me a nauseous feeling in my stomach until it has been processed through my "Holy Spirit filter" and made right.

For example, I wrote a blog a week or so ago and I had a friend lovingly contact me to share her heart with me.  She felt like some of the wording could be offensive to someone.  She was quick to affirm my honest and pure intentions but encouraged me to be above reproach and change it.

My first feeling was that sick knot in my stomach.  Then I was beginning to feel the defensive walls coming up (hey, I'm still human!), but then my Holy Spirit filter quickly caught those racing thoughts and defensive attitudes and began placing perspective on the situation at hand.

Here are some things my "Holy Spirit Filter" can help me decipher:

1 - THE SOURCE - is this information coming from a friend, someone in my close circle, whom I have handed the accountability reigns of my life to?  If so, then I need to listen and be approachable.

2 - THE HEART - where is this person coming from?  Do they legitimately have a point?  If I take myself out of the equation and look at the facts, what is the heart behind it all?  And what is my reaction showing about my motivations and my self?

3 - HAVE I BEEN APPROACHABLE - I always want to be approachable.  As soon as I set up walls of inferiority or untouchability I am placing myself in a dangerous spot.  Eventually people will stop trying to penetrate those walls to get to me and I will be a target left alone in an open field waiting from the "one who seeks to destroy" to shoot his fiery arrows straight at my heart!

Whether someone has to approach me about something I've said or done, or maybe the way my children have been acting or the way I've spoken to or about my husband...whatever it is...I want people to feel safe coming to me.  I can't promise that my defensive walls won't start rising up around me for a bit, sometimes my flesh gets the best of me, but I can promise you that my "Holy Spirit filter" will quickly come to the rescue!

My desire is to allow the Holy Spirit to do the sifting in order to keep me teachable.