I recently received a junk email. You know the "friend" emails or the "tag, you're hugged ~ pass it on" emails... Typically, I skim through them quickly and file most of them in the deleted folder, but for some reason, this particular email jumped off the screen. I think it was the floating balloons that caught my attention... It read: "Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Forget about the one's who don't. Believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands. If it changes your life, let it. Nobody said life would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it..." and it goes on.
I stumbled over the line, "Forget about the one's who don't [treat you right]" several times. I'm not suppose to forget about the ones who don't treat me right. It's been nailed into me so much to love your neighbor as yourself; and I've always been taught that Christ instructs us to love our neighbor just as He has loved me. And if there is rivalry, to pray for our brother. Matthew 18:12-20 tells me to go to my brother and resolve whatever issue is between us and if you can listen to one another, you have gained a friend. If he won't listen, take one or two others along so that the presence of witnesses will keep things honest. Verses 18-20 keep me in check. I'm instructed to take this seriously because what I say to one another in prayer is eternal and where two are more are gathered because of God, He is there as well.
The Message has a great passage for Matthew chapter five. In verse 43-47 it states, "You're familiar with the old written law, "love your friend." and its' unwritten companion, "hate your enemy." I'm telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best-the sun to warm and the rain to nourish-to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anyone can dot that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that." I love how verse 48 is summed up in the Message. It reads, "In a word, what I'm saying is, Grow up. (hehehe! I love that!) You're kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you." Could He be more forward? Awesome!
Luke 6:39-41 was a recent study at church. I felt it was right in line with what is on my heart. The Message, verse 41-42: "It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this I-know-better-than-you mentality again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your own part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor."
It's so easy for me to judge those around me; to think I'm better than that or that's beneath me... But Jesus clearly tells us not to judge our neighbor for I have no idea what their heart is going through ~ only God can see the heart. I remember a time my mother went through when I was younger. She was confronted by a lady in our church instructing my mother to be more involved with the church. The lady claimed that God told her that she needed to tell my mom this and that. I remember my mother looking at that lady and telling her if God needed her to know these things, that He would tell her these things Himself. This little story reminds me of the parable in Luke 6: 41-42, "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brothers eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" This clearly tells me that I have no right to judge, especially when I know I can't even get it right.
Now, I believe God talks to each us in our own special way. I believe He works with me and allows me to see things for me. I can't answer for anyone else. I don't have the ability to tell someone "you're doing it wrong or you need to change that" because each of us are walking our own path with God. I have not been put on this earth to judge my neighbor, but I am to love them unconditionally. My mother followed up her conversation with this lady with this simple statement: "Why don't you walk in my shoes for a mile and see if you still feel the same way." My mother was not on a victim; it was not a "woe is me" party. She was defending the fact that she was a busy mother of four. Setting timers, bells and whistles to remind her to pick one daughter up from school while drop another one off for basketball practice. Then off to take another to piano lessons while the other one needed to be at the church for a bake sale. Only to pick up the one from basketball practice and drop her off at the softball fields as she changed uniforms in the car on the way. Meanwhile, the bake sale just ended and the other one is ready to be picked up from piano. ...You get the picture ~ she was a busy mom. She did an excellent job raising us girls along with Daddy who faithfully dropped us off at school every morning on his way to work to supply for the family. I'm grateful for them being such a vital part of my life.
If I were to title this chapter in my life, I would have to call it, "The Tired Years" and I know it's only going to get worse in the next couple of years, but there's no better way to describe it. Running Natalie to soccer practice, games, gymnastics, school, church... Oh.. yah, I have a more than 40 hour a week job. There are times that I am flat out tired. The other day Natalie and I were in the kitchen. We carved the pumpkin, made pumpkin bread and was cleaning up the kitchen when she asked me, "am I in your way?" I admit, I was tired and a little grumpy. To my surprise, instead of saying yes-move, I heard myself reply "no, you're in my life." She is my life. Yes, there are times I hurdle over her because every time I turn around she's right there. She keeps me so busy... and tired., but there's not a day goes by that I don't count it a blessing she is in my life. .
What I'm getting at is ~ if I am this busy, I imagine most everyone else is busy too and are all walking different miles in different shoes. It's in those times that I am tired, that I think about how my life is easy compared to others. James 1. Paraphrased: "Consider it sheer gifts when tests and challenges come your way because it's pressure from all sides that faith is forced into the open to show its true colors." I don't know what my neighbor is going through. I don't know the burdens of their heart. If they have done me wrong and I chose to forget about them, they could be doomed for eternity. And if I choose not to forgive them... I am doomed for eternity. Yes ~ you read that correctly. If I do not forgive someone who has done me wrong, I am dooming myself. And even more importantly, if I do not resolve that issue, I may be allowing them to be doomed. It's a big pill to swallow, but the best gift you can give someone is forgiveness. And the best gift you can give yourself... is forgiveness.
So... let me rewrite this email: Life is too short to wake up with regrets. So love the people who treat you right. Pray for those who don't and believe everything happens for a reason. If you get a second chance to reconcile differences, grab it and thank God for changing you and for giving you a soft heart. Noone promised this life would be easy, but some did say it would be worth it. Stay strong and forgive just as God has forgiven us.
Lord, thank you for forgiving me. It's by your grace, I can call you my Lord. Help me to have a tender heart for others. Help me to be quick to forgive and even quicker to forget. Thank you for your countless blessings in my life including my sweet Natalie. Thank you for using her as a teaching tool for me and for graciously pursing her little heart. Thank you for showing her your love and peace and for already using her as part of your mission. You are an amazing God! In Jesus' precious name.
