It is my desire to walk in the Spirit, but I don’t always measure up. I try to be more like Jesus, and then get impatient with my geriatric dog, yell at the driver in front of me who doesn’t do what I want, and snap at the people in my life that I love most.

What makes me do that, and how do I stop? I believe the answer is to yield more of my life to the Holy Spirit. He has to have more space in my soul, and I have to have less. But it’s not something I can do by myself, I have to ask the Holy Spirit to help me.

I see in my mind a glass. When it’s full of dirty water, no matter how much clean water you add, it will still be dirty. But if you pour out the dirty water, it takes only a little clean water to fill it up. My desire to be Christ-like has to be stronger than the desire to be selfish.

Let me tell you, it doesn’t always work that way. But I want it to. Really bad. God deals with my tendency for selfishness gently, showing me how He wants me to behave, loving me even when I fail. And when I succeed, he celebrates my success with me. I can feel him smiling at me when I’m gentle with my dog, even when he does the unthinkable on my rug. Or when I smile at the guy who just cut me off in traffic. Okay, maybe I don’t smile yet, but hey, I’m working on it.