Where I am today...

Have you ever had your feelings hurt? Occasionally I am a sensitive person. I don’t like to admit it, in fact my mother has suggested this very thing and I have gotten very defensive. As sure sign that what she was saying is in fact true. I don’t like to think of myself as someone who gets hurt easily and in most cases I am not.

here is mom now...she loves having her picture taken

There are certain things that happen in life on a nearly daily basis that hurt my feelings that I have chosen to get used to. For instance everyday when I make dinner my children ask me what we are having and I swear before I even say what it is someone is saying, “ewww or disgusting”. It really doesn’t matter what it is. Last night I made a new recipe called Hawaiian meatballs, I made it to a quartet of voices saying disgusting… but to everyone’s surprise it was actually quite tasty.

Another occasion that occurs frequently is whenever we leave the house the kids all yell, “I am going with daddy”. As if riding with me would be the worst thing imaginable. Usually one of them will feel sorry for me and begrudgingly say “I guess I’ll go with mamma”. I am left wondering what does daddy do that is so much more fun than me? I move on from these two offenses pretty quickly.

There are certain offenses however that are not so easy to move on from. Sometimes I genuinely get my feelings hurt and if I am not careful those feelings will spill over into every attitude and into every area of my life. That happens doesn’t it? All the sudden everything is hurting my feelings, all the sudden everyone is out to hurt me.

It is all a response to the time and effort given to the initial offense. After that if it is left undealt with it is like a downward spiral, which quickly gets out of control. For months I have been trying to finish this book, “Holiness, Truth and the Presence of God” by Francis Frangipane and I am almost done! It has been a good and challenging book to read.

There was one passage I read yesterday that has stuck out to me today as I am coddling some offenses. “The state of love of which we are afraid is that transitory stage where we are learning to forgive. This is the aspect of love that hurts, and its hurt is amplified by our reluctance to forgive. We, like Jesus, must live in a continual attitude of forgiveness: then we can step into the joy and power of aggressive love.”

This means forgiveness with no apology, forgiveness when we are justified and even forgiveness when it is undeserved. Because really we all are undeserving of forgiveness but like Jesus forgives us CONTINUALLY we must forgive others. I have made progress in forgiveness but as soon as I move forward something happens to try and cloud my heart with offense. I realized it quicker this time, I didn’t give offense days or weeks of my life, this time it was only hours. I am trying to live in a continual state of forgiveness.

So my encouragement today is both to you and to myself, live in a continual attitude of forgiveness, then we can step into the joy and power of aggressive love. Love for others, love for our families and friends. This is the kind of love that helps to change the world we live in and it is only love that comes out of a forgiving heart that can meet the needs of others.