While we were on vacation with my extended family, I cooked pancakes for everyone and was shocked when my brother-in-law, Stan, came into the kitchen and said, “Those pancakes are burnt!”
I replied, “Those aren’t burnt!”
But everyone standing around said, “Yes, Kathy, those are burnt.”
I thought they were just brown. But I had to really listen to the general consenses. I had always seen my pancakes as brown but they were burnt. (I’m sorry Darcy and Mark that you grew up with burnt pancakes!)
But as I’ve thought about this experience, I related it to the soul care counseling Larry and I have received and the soul care counseling we’re currently giving to others. It’s like telling someone, “That’s burnt!” when they think it’s only a nice brown. It’s helping us and other people recognize that even when we think, “Well, this is normal,” we begin to recognize, “No, this is sin and/or it’s not drawing me closer to God.”
That’s what Christian community and the Body of Christ is supposed to do. Help us see with new eyes something that is actually not the way it’s supposed to be–and not the way I’m supposed to act/respond/believe.
Although it took a few moments to really “hear” and believe what my family was telling me, I’m glad my “eyes” can see it differently now.
I just hope my response to recognizing self protective sinful strategies can happen that quickly.