Attention Fixers: lay down the toolboxes

People don't want to be fixed, people want to be loved. 

Isn't that hard for us to to do? We are such fixers. I am definitely the most guilty. With good intentions and good hearts we see problems in other people's lives and like a AAA guy coming to rescue a stranded vehicle, we zoom off to the "person with so many problems" like "we have the answer" to fix them! TaDa! All the while, they did not even call us nor did they ask for our "solution."

That brings me to my next thought:

People don't need a solution, they need an ear to listen.

As I sat in the presence of different family members two weeks ago when my Papa passed away, I was at a loss of how to comfort them. What do you say to someone who just lost their husband of 63 years? What do you say to someone who just lost their dad or their brother or their cousin or their grandpa? That's when I was reminded of something we heard a lot about through the IF:Gathering 2016....just BE with them. If you don't know what to say, just walk with them through whatever it is they're going through.  

I think rich, rich relationships are built in that kind of space. When we can look into each other's eyes and say "I'm just here for you", no strings attached...that is The Kingdom. That is Jesus with skin on. That is powerful.

The art of just being and not fixing is a learning curve, though! I have been catching myself allllll over the place in a ton of relationships in my life like "Woah, Aimee, back up. Stop fixing. Start loving." Because I think I have the answer to their issues! Jesus doesn't offer 10 steps to fix our lives; he offers relationship with Himself and walks with us through everything. If we are going to be Jesus to other people, that's what we should do to. Be the Aroma of Christ to people in our lives so they can see HIM and not our "solutions" to their "problems."  That's a good place to start living out the Gospel. 

So let's be like that for each other. Let's put down our emotional tool box of "fix-it's" and just love and be with those who God's placed in our lives. Yep, its really hard. But, its kind of freeing, too, because we're suddenly free of having to know it all or have all the answers. And we can put Jesus in his rightful place as the One who knows it all and has the answers.