The Downside of being a Christian

Not too long ago, a dear friend of mine asked me when I'd be posting a blog again.  My response was completely justified in my opinion, because I thought that I was giving him a legitimate excuse.  I said:  "I haven't had any inspiration lately."

The truth is, a lot of creative and artistic people hide behind that excuse and I'm probably one of the biggest culprits.  But in actual fact, you don't have to wait for inspiration in order to be creative.  I think all of us were born creatively.

But I'm not here to talk about creativity today.  I'm here to talk about how I recently wished that I wasn't a Christian.  Yes, go ahead, gasp all you like, but you'll agree with me soon.

Whether you have been a Christian all your life, or you have recently made that commitment, you would agree that one of the things that warms your heart the most is the fact that fellow Christians have a tendency to be generous with compassion and grace.  Not always, but mostly.  Most Christians I've known would embrace you and your quirks with open arms and do everything in their power to make you feel accepted.  

But because we are surrounded by this kind of behaviour on a regular basis, it's sometimes easy to forget that grace and compassion aren't necessarily found in every single human being out there.  I recently learnt that the hard way, from someone who was very close and dear to my heart, and it has hurt me tremendously.

I look back on the experience and I know that I will get through it because I'm strong enough due to the amazing people that surround me, and the supernatural strength and power of a God that stands outside of time; but I also find myself wishing that this aspect of my life, my trust in other's compassion and grace, was less overpowering, because it would have made it easier for me to deal with the pain that I had to go through...because it wouldn't have been such a surprise to me.

I also learnt something else about myself during this time.  I can be extremely, supernaturally, creepily calm during conflict, accusation and emotional attack.

That alone should scare the crap out of whoever decides to put me through this in the future.  Maybe it's only fair to warn them.  I think I'll get a T-shirt: Calmer Under Pressure Than Is Humanly Possible - Be Afraid.

Right, I have to go and Google local T-shirt printing companies...