Dig in your own dirt….not your neighbor’s

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Graeme Wilson in Victory Call

There are so many cool things to learn in life and from people.  I recently was watching one of my favorite people on You-Tube and I was reminded of a great life lesson.  Now I know that I am “preaching to the choir”….so this might not have ever entered into your mind….but it is in regards to criticism, judging, and looking in your neighbor’s backyard, I think you get the picture.

Many of us joke from time to time and say to “get a life,” or that “they live in a small world.”  This can apply to each one of us in some part of our life.  The woman that I refer to is a homemaker, mother of three, a crafter, extreme couponer and a great bargain hunter.  She shares her gifts on this channel and I love to watch how to save money, and to be inspired to create new things.  I also love her passion for her husband and children.  All in all, she is by far a favorite of mine!

In one of her recordings she went on to share how she is judged for having too many things, crafts, her stash from coupons, etc….After she mentioned it I too realized that she has way more than I do or would want to, but then again I don’t live her life.  She went on to say how much criticism and judging people were doing about her and what she shares about her life and family.  She then went on that what is in her home makes it “her” home and not your home; her life reflects how she takes care of her family and not your family.  She offers so many wonderful things for us to learn from yet she is judged for this by people who really don’t even know her personally.

Her final thoughts were that “is your life so small” that you need to critique her life and the way she does things.  One great point she made was that she is always working on finishing a project and then the next one is there waiting for her to start it…..but that you probably haven’t even started your first project yet.  If this is the case then you certainly have the time to look in your neighbor’s yard and criticize, judge, etc….but is that right and what we should be doing?

Let’s bring this around to our “Christian Life and Testimony”…how many of us sit in judgment of each other’s homes, husbands, kids, service in church, or lack of, and so on.  There are days that I am running around doing three or four things for church or in my home and someone will stop me with questions over the silliest thing and pass judgment on how or why I am doing what I am doing.  This person probably has no idea of who I am, why I do what I do and most of the time, I would think that they don’t even have one thing going on in their own life.

The verse comes to mind in Proverbs 16:27 (TLB)…..” Idle hands are the devil’s workshop; idle lips are his mouthpiece”.

I once heard that if you are always digging in your own dirt and planning new things….you will never need to see the dirt on someone else.  Between the lessons I learned from my friend on You-Tube, this quote and a good hard look at this verse today…it has me thinking.  If you know me….you know how busy I am and yet even with all that I can sit in judgment as to “why” does he do that….”how can” they do that etc….

Today I share a piece of my heart, my thoughts and my life with you.  I pray today that my hands and life are busy for the Lord and that they do not become hands of the devil’s workshop.  I pray that since I have enough dirt in my own life to dig into…that I can have grace and compassion and a Christ-like attitude for others instead of sitting in judgment or criticism of them.

Take up the challenge with me today….will you dig in your own dirt?

Lynn Wilson

Lynn is a wife and a mother of two. Currently on Staff at America’s Keswick for the past 20 years. She has been involved in her local church in women’s ministries as well as speaking for other churches and retreats. Her mission statement would be to…touch one life so in turn they can touch a life for eternity. Her greatest joy is to go home at the end of her work day and spend time with her family and enjoy her first ministry which is being a wife and mother.