Today my Bible reading brought me to Genesis 13: 8-9 ⁸ So Abram said to Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.⁹ Is not the whole land before you? Let’s part company. If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left.”

Abram, wanting to avoid strife with his relative, has put aside his right to choose and instead offered Lot his choice of lands to live in.  I think that is terribly gracious of him, and Lot took advantage of that grace to take the better portion. Obviously, Abraham was more interested in preserving his relationship with Lot than he was in exercising his rights.

In that same way I need to find the strength in myself to offer up my right to the first and best, and give up that right to others. It’s so hard to do- I am selfish and sometimes foolish. And I am weary of stepping aside for others. When my ‘rights’ are trampled, I want to offer wrath, not grace.

Lord help me to find the courage to do the right thing instead of having the right thing, so I can honor you instead of myself.