The Subtle Lure -- by Tia

The following is from my friend's blog. It relates to some things that a couple of us have been talking about...

"Lead us not into temptation" often means, among other things,"Deny me those gratifying invitations, those highly interesting contacts,that participation in the brilliant movements of our age, which I so often, at risk desire."
from the reflections on the Psalms

I have been ruminating on this for a couple of months now and I'm not sure how to accurately put it all into words. We, as women have an instinctive need to help, to nurture and to put feet to our caring. It is a beautiful thing. I have seen it in action many times and I am always amazed at the caring and generous nature of those around us. It can however be misused or abused as most of God's gifts can be. We need to be aware of what we are doing, of not seeking out conflict or making more of a problem than there is or even seeing one where there is none. It can be so gratifying to be the one who is able to help walk someone through the storms of their life or even the one who is looked to for the answers. God is His infinite wisdom has chosen to work through man. This is His way. We need each other, and reaching out beyond ourselves to serve one another is truly remarkable. My word of caution in all this is that we need to look at our own hearts and see if we are doing this with the right intentions, to walk in humility, to see the person for who they are not the problem and how to fix it.