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Abrasive?


not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. (Hebrews 10:25)
                The passage for today’s A Long Obedience In The Same Direction chapter is Psalm 133. It’s all about how good it is when brothers and sisters get along. It’s something I’ve been thinking about a little, because my instinctive reaction to pain is to pull away from people and to push projects. This time, I’m struggling with writing. A lot of people would say that’s OK, but I’m afraid if I don’t get back to writing soon, it’s just going to fade away like another broken dream. I know, I know, it’s all in God’s timing, and it will be OK, but what I know unfortunately doesn’t control what I feel. 
               I’m also finding myself even shorter with people than usual. I have no patience. It’s interesting in a way, because I just got to the negative character traits part of a book on negative character traits, and the first trait is “abrasive.” One of the “possible causes” is that the person is issue-focused rather than people-focused. That doesn’t make abrasiveness less negative, but “abrasive” is a good word to use for me because I don’t tend to care about people’s feelings as a main focus. I’m more interested in whether the issue is right or wrong, whether it can be defended with facts, etc. Once that is all established, then I may consider how someone feels. It tends to abrade people. 
               Of course, it works the other way, too. People who only care about feelings, or (worse yet) care about everyone else’s feelings but mine are abrasive to me. It’s not comfortable having to deal with those who insist on pushing their beliefs down my throat, but condemn me if I don’t agree. What people don’t understand is that these abrasions are meant to take off the rough edges. Abrasiveness isn’t always bad. It’s rarely comfortable. That's not an excuse, but it is a reality.

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