Winnie the Pooh is one of my hero's. "Oh bother!" He's real and doesn't pretend to be anything but who he is. That alone is so refreshing. Put into the picture his friends and you have me and my world. It's a good world and one where despite my choices seems to be turning out right. Not every day is a "blustery day" but my world gets rocked like everyone else's world. Putting up with my friends and family is similar to what Winnie runs into with his friends. Yet, he seems to do alright in the relationship world. The wisdom is simple. Be nice. My life was built on expecting others to do and be what they professed to do and be. Learning that people, either by choice or just the way they were taught, are fake was and is a frustrating lesson that I'm still trying to fully understand. Learning that I too had been fake was an even harder lesson. Finding myself was and is an ongoing process that isn't smooth sailing. Having taken the School of Hard Knocks extended correspondence course my world has expanded, collapsed and expanded several times. New truths, regardless how they came about, run in cycles. Most of my cycles contain frustration at some point in their evolution.
Outside of Eyore's house there is a broken sign. It says, "Trespassers will..." We know that the rest of the sign should read "be prosecuted." but that's not the lesson of the sign. Often those who trespass in our lives aren't prosecuted. The injuries and damages that come with them are often left as carnage at the side of our life road. Despite people "getting away" with whatever they did; there are also those who have returned to repair the damage done. Expecting that people won't be trespassers is naïve. Expecting that people will be like me is realistic. I've been that trespasser and have left carnage in other people's lives. I've also returned to many of those places and times to make right the wrong I've done. It's been frustrating for people who know me to put up with much less understand my actions, thoughts and thoughtlessness. Sometimes it's frustrating for me as well. The lesson learned from these frustrations has blessed me and hopefully blessed some you as well. Yes, there will be times that you and I are on both ends of the stick (so to speak). We will trespass and will be trespassed against. In the end we are called to do only one by Jesus. We are to offer grace to those who trespass against us (even without them asking for grace) and we are to offer grace to ourselves, learn the lessons and be a better example of Jesus to the world.
People want blessings without the frustration. We want to win the lottery without buying any tickets. We want to have that perfect person in our lives without being perfect ourselves. We want to be understood even when we don't attempt to understand the lives of others. Blessings aren't just the food on our table or the roof over our heads. Blessings are the lessons of life learned from those sent into our lives to teach those lessons. The problem is we don't want to look at the problem much less address it. The problem is me. The problem is you. The problem is we try to retain our individuality and our freedom while claiming to be a new creature in Christ. We are not "born again" but remain in the birth canal living (or trying to live) in both worlds at the same time. Letting go of the past and being "birthed" into the present prepares us for the future. Remaining frustrated in the past only causes us to miss out on the blessings prepared for us. Yes, we have a future hope of Heaven. We shouldn't be so fixated on that Heaven that we miss this heaven here on earth. The frustrations will remain in and around our lives. We determine by out mindset and actions whether the blessings will be realized or not.
Winnie the Pooh lived a seemingly crazy and complicated simple life of being blessed by those around him who presented frustration after frustration. He was blessed. Be blessed yourself and accept frustration for what it could be and not what you think it is.
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