I was at work last spring, it was about lunchtime and we were getting ready to sit down and have our meal when the tones went out for a vehicle collision with injuries.  It was right up the road so it did not take us long to get there, we had to shut down the road as the two vehicles were completely blocking the two lane road.  This particular collision was a head on crash, a bad one.  We immediately proceed to the car that is the worst off, my captain who is a paramedic reaches into the vehicle to check on the patient, he turns and looks to me and gives me the look and the shaking of the head that lets me know that there is no helping this woman, and to move on to the next vehicle.  The particulars about the wreck are neither here nor there, what is significant is how God was speaking to me during this moment.  Once the savable patient was loaded and the police finished their investigation, I looked into the car with the lady who had just been called home.  She was dressed for work, and it was obvious to me that she was on a lunch break.  I say that because in the middle of the car on the hump was her bag of Taco Bell.  Several things about this rang my senses.  I could still smell the food that was in the bag, above the smell of the collision.  When cars get in a crash, if you have ever been in a collision you can testify to this, there is a particular smell.  The smell of antifreeze, airbag dust, and oil make a very peculiar aroma.  But above all that was the smell of her lunch.  She was going about her day as she normally would, thinking about what she had to do for the rest of the day, not knowing that her day was about to end right then and there.  My point is that most of us will never see our end coming, or our beginning depending on how strong your faith is.  This lady never knew she was about to die, she never saw it coming, her demise was quick and painless, a flash of light and then Jesus.  Here was this lady's intent on continuing the rest of her day, and in the same image, the end of the day.  The thought that went through my mind then and still to this day was....What was the last thing this person said to the one in this world she loves the most ?. 

Do you think she left a petty argument unresolved--bitter at the thought of the argument--or did she tell that person that she loved them.  I live my life like this: arguments have to have a beginning, a middle, and an end.  The end of the argument must come in the same day the argument took place.  I do not want the last thing I say to the one I love be a stupid insult that I will always regret.
 
Moral- Forgiveness is an obligation amongst Christians. Christ asked God to forgive those who were killing him, in a way to show that he had already forgiven them.  Would you be able to do that?  We most commonly live in grudges most of our lives.  All who read this probably have at least one person on this earth that we hold a grudge against.  But if you read Proverbs you will see it is chock full of why you should forgive.  By praying for forgiveness you find that you are living the Kingdom Life, you are offering your aches and troubles up to God.  By living in bitterness you are trying to handle the situation by yourself, and you will find that you cannot find that peace on your own. 
     If you expect to be forgiven in the Kingdom of Heaven, you must be willing to forgive.  One of the things the Bible teaches us is that you will be judged on your ability to forgive.  You can live a selfish life here and now, but in all reality you should treat everyone you know with the same consideration you expect when you reach the Pearly Gates.  Remember, your ability to act and live as much like Christ as you can, will dictate whether or not you get to meet him in the end.  If you woke up this morning, then God has granted you another day, but there is no guarantee that you will make it all the way to tomorrow or even get a tomorrow.  So if there are those in this world whom
you still have not forgiven, I suggest you start praying, and living a life of forgiveness.  If you are living in bitterness, you are not living, and you may never know a happy life until you have prayed for peace.  And it truly is a very wonderful life. 
 
Mathew 6: 7-13
Mathew 18: 21-35
John 8:1-11
01 Peter 3: 8-12

Permalink

The Concentric Circle Effect

Is it possible to forgive someone who doesn't acknowledge how they have hurt me? When I forgive, must I also TRUST that person again? Why do some people not feel the need to be forgiven or to offer forgiveness? If I do not forgive, who am I affecting most? Are there wounds so deep that I, as a human, cannot forgive ... and what about FORGETTING the injury?

  These are tough questions in real life -- in the complicated, tangled webs we call relationships.  Once, in a moment of profundity (or so I thought,) I visualized human relationships as concentric circles, such as if many pebbles were thrown into a pond at the same moment, but in different spots.  The   concentric circles touch, overlap and affect every surrounding cluster of concentric circles - to infinity and beyond! In the same way, complications that arise within our relationships affect every other relationship, even those with strangers many times!
18th century poet, Alexander Pope, might have had an influence on my thought at the time:

"God loves from whole to parts: but human soul
Must rise from individual to the whole,
Self-love but serves the virtuous mind to wake,
As the small pebble stirs the peaceful lake;
The centre mov'd, a circle straight succeeds,
Another still, and still another spreads;
Friends, parent, neighbor, first it will embrace;
His country next; and next all human race ..."

How do we see clearly through the messes we make? How do we not hold a grudge? How do we forgive? How do we know the right thing to do, how to behave or respond?

 If we are maturing in Christ, seeking spiritual understanding, we should be improving, and our concentric circles shouldn't be quite as clustered and messy as before. If we seek it, The Word of God does offer help and hope - answers to, or at least assistance with, our dilemmas.
But, many times, rather than holding onto bitterness and anger or allowing an old grudge to become our closest friend, we must CHOOSE to step out of the pond - or the messy marsh we've made of our life - and take the road God has offered to us instead.  At first, His path may seem much too hard to choose, but the messy marsh is also a breeding ground for many dangers and side effects and diseases we must consider, too!  God's path, the road MUCH less travelled, offers forgiveness and healing and grace for the journey ahead.

  "From a sea of troubles I call out to you, LORD. Won't you please listen as I beg for mercy? If you kept record of our sins, no one could last long. But you forgive us, and so we will worship you."  Psalm 130:1-4

Permalink

It IS Part of the Job Description!
 
Okay, humans are, by nature, not the most balanced, even-tempered creatures. We are prideful, selfish, immature and discontent most of the time.  It is hard to disagree with that statement even if you don't believe in the original sin; we all fall short scenario given to us in the Bible.   Although one of us may be a tiny bit nicer than the next and some of us may try harder than others, none of us are remotely CAPABLE of perfect, unconditional love --- not even for our own children or parents.  Therefore,  mothers, fathers, grandmothers, friends, spouses, even our own children will ALWAYS disappoint us because they CANNOT love us perfectly, unconditionally --- only God can do that for us.  In fact, it is unfair to EXPECT another human being to be able to fill that love and acceptance vacuum in our heart!
 
So, since NONE of us can do it, perhaps we have no choice but to forgive everyone around us who ALSO cannot do it and look to the only source that CAN fill us with that Love. (Maybe it's in our job descriptions as humans to point the way to that perfect Source! It's what we are supposed to be doing!) According to scripture, we really don't have a choice in the matter, anyway, not if we want peace and forgiveness in our own lives.  The Lord's Prayer says "forgive us our sins AS (in the same way as) we forgive those who sin against us ...." 
 
Our relationships are HUMAN, frail by definition, imperfect and incomplete.  Why don't we give our families and friends -- everyone, ourselves included -- a break and just pardon, forgive and seek peace?

Permalink