Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.—John 1:23 (KJV)

I sat quietly while an acquaintance took aim at me. I sensed I wasn’t the true target, but my bruised feelings were saying, I’m done with her. Like the disorienting switchbacks I’d once experienced on the Mississippi River Road toward New Orleans, her sharp words pointed in the opposite direction from which I thought the relationship was headed. 

Poised to end the conversation, I sensed an open door. The question was, could I accept the grace to walk through it? Would I “frustrate the grace of God” by clinging to my decision to be done with her, or would I seize the chance to demonstrate God’s way? 

I became excited. An opportunity to live John’s words—to make straight the Lord’s path—was staring me in the face. I began to “speak . . . comfortably” (Isaiah 40:2, KJV). No time for self-petting. The moment called for gentleness instead of pride; hope instead of self-defense; meekness instead of aggression. Jesus’s mandate to forgive and the fact that the lady’s faith was relatively new left no room for me to wallow in hurt. I must make His path as loving as I could. 

That precious lady’s true battle was with self-esteem. Perhaps, as a fellow believer, I was directed to absorb some of her pain, but whatever the case, the Lord helped me understand that rather than drawing the proverbial line in the sand, my assignment is always to make straight paths with a cool head and a kind heart.