Time and Taxes

This past week has been very trying.  A great deal of time invested seemed to just explode and implode overnight.  Suddenly, everything had changed.  As I thought about it and pondered the circumstances, I realized, going over it in my mind, seemed parallel to taxes.  Time spent, is just that, spent.  It won't come back, it's gone.  Now to rehash in our mind, too many times, is just more time spent on time that we can't get back.  It's also time spent that will not change the circumstances.  There are serious things going on in the world and a few angry words by a few folks really should not be at the top of the priority list.

As I came to this understanding, I became concerned.  I had reached out to a few people in friendship and others who had privately voiced some struggles and frustrations, and although I thought I was always very clear about what I believe and where I stand, there were suddenly very divisive issues.  I'm responsible enough to know when there seems to be a problem with several at once, I may be the common denominator.    I tend to be a pretty strong, stoic type woman, so when I realized I could just quit questioning what had transpired in several situations, and go on with life, I asked Abba if I was becoming calloused.   

Although I can be a tough cookie and rather socially awkward, I do have a compassionate heart.  I didn't want to become hardened with all the interactive circumstances.  Abba showed me it was not callousness, but a strengthening of the armor.  We use the phrase iron sharpening iron in a rather cavalier manner.  The time already invested in friendship or outreach was time invested in others in the Name of Y'hshuwah and that was as it should be.  It was the rehashing in my own mind that would lead to problems.  By "taxing" the circumstances, we may find ourselves feeling more invested than we actually were.   In rehashing the events, we may give our own contribution a higher value than we should.  We don't know how we ultimately affect the lives of others, or the long range effect they may have on us.

Giving our time to reach out in the Name of Y'hshuwah is what we are called to do.  Responding to accusations impulsively is clearly wrong, but continual rehashing and questioning is adding a tax that is not needed, and may hinder a restoration.