PEOPLE I CANNOT HANDLE

 

There is one thing that the Holy Spirit has difficulty teaching us: how to be humble and take ownership of our limitations.

 

There are types of people that we find very difficult to deal with and people that we clash with; we just cannot work together.

 

Wise families find ways to set up boundaries where clashing personalities will rarely have to deal with each other. ‘If they are at a distance, we all can survive as a family.’

 

In our life of faith, in the lives of sincere Christians, we too must name and work with our limitations. We cannot be all things to all people!

 

Many sincere people will name their difficulties dealing with adult members who   have addiction issues: prescription drugs, illegal drugs or cassino. They cannot grasp how anyone could be trapped in a non-stop preoccupation with obtaining the next fix. 

 

There are persons who cannot deal with anyone who are in the final stages of dying. They feel compelled to try to say something and are frustrated when they must be silent and only be present to the dying person and their family. 

 

We all have limitations when we must deal with the new-comers to our country. They are of a different language, religion, skin color and culture. Some people will not make the effort to get to know these new-comers and learn their culture. Some work situations have two groups of people sitting on opposite sides of the lunch-room and no friendship is shared. No one touches the other.

 

Some people cannot deal with the little ones under six years of age and others cannot deal with the elderly and the feeble maneuvering with their walkers.

 

In the spiritual life we are coming to a moment of honesty. I have serious limitations. I cannot deal with certain people. “I am too efficient and organized or I just find the limitations in these people too hard to work with.” We want to be able to say honestly to the Holy Spirit and ourselves: “I cannot do this!”

 

This is never an excuse to avoid helping another human being. Jesus also had serious limitations: he could not reach out to the rich and the powerful. His teachings and practice clashed with the people who had control in that society.

 

At the end of the day, we must take ownership of our own limitations and bring what we cannot do to the Lord in our prayer. “Here Lord, are the people I cannot deal with. May I be humble in my truthfulness.”