The Heart's Rebuke

And she did it again! For the third time I think, I got stood up! Well, maybe not exactly but almost. The difference between now and before is that I checked if we're pushing through with the meeting, an hour before our schedule. No, we weren't. I was just about to hit the grocery for a few food items to serve them. Good thing I asked.

What was so frustrating about today is the fact that I excused myself from an urgent work appointment just to make time for this. I was supposed to interview a company CEO for a feature article I'm writing as a freelancer. It was an urgent task supposed to be submitted tomorrow together with the other articles for the publication but since it requires more time to prepare, it was exempted from the deadline.

Well, my young friend doesn't seem to have an idea how terrible what she did was. It was as though she thinks it's normal.

²⁶"In your anger do not sin"^[a]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, Ephesians 4:26

So I'm left here doing deep breathing exercises. Whew! Of course it doesn't end here. I would like it too but the thing about relationships is that when something rough happens, you can't just run away. You gotta deal with it as soon as your anger subsides.

⁵ Better is open rebuke
       than hidden love. - Proverbs 27:5

Honestly, I just want to rebuke. Not so much love. So how does one rebuke in love? Like every other hard thing in life, I know I do not have it in me but God has the grace for me. So yes God, thank you for this opportunity to be stretched, thank you for testing my love and proving it lacking apart from You, thank you for the refining. Now that I recall, I did ask for this. Just days ago, I prayed: test me, try me, prove me, refine me. Purify my heart and give me a love like yours. Another answered prayer I guess.

P.S.
This friend was not the only one who did this to me this month. That makes two of them! And that makes God's message extra clear, learn from this Riz. You're on patience and love workshop!