Hi everyone,
So my kids fight. I know, all siblings so, but with mine it’s almost like they enjoy it. They fight over their toys, they fight over whose turn it is to choose what setting to use on their video games, they fight over someone watching the video they’re watching over their shoulder. And while their fighting seems so unnecessary and so very very perpetual, they get distracted by something and suddenly everything is peaches.
No hard feelings, no grudges, no plans for revenge or payback. They just move on with life almost as fast as they started fighting.
That isn’t to say that I’m ok with them fighting, but they seem pretty ok at forgiving. Or perhaps it’s just that they’re forgetting very easily and that I’m wishfully hoping that they’re actually forgiving. But there is no denying that the water flows pretty quickly underneath their respective bridges, and that before you know it they are willing to play with each other again…
…until the next fight.
Here are the readings for next week:
Genesis 45:3-11, 15
Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40
1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50
Luke 6:27-38
Forgiveness isn’t easy. Not for adults, at least. We feel like those who have wronged us should know better and thus they shouldn’t have done whatever they did to wrong us. We want them to feel the pain we feel so they will get theirs and learn their lesson and not do it again.
But we also know that it becomes a cycle of hurt feelings, angry thoughts, and bruised egos. It is a cycle that keeps going on and on because, as I just said, forgiveness isn’t easy.
It is exactly forgiveness that does it though. It is the death of the need to be right in spite of everything else that can bring out new life in relationship and community. It is the strength to see the wrong but choose to love anyway that repairs, restores, and reconciles.
I know, that still doesn’t make forgiveness easy, but knowing that we are all capable of the same mistakes, the same ways to anger someone else, the same annoying habits, helps us to see that we aren’t all that different and that we can all use a little forgiveness (or a lot).
Peace be with you, as you navigate the world of hurt, pain, and brokenness to find peace, comfort, and healing.
Have a great week, everyone!