I'm Sorry...

"God pardons like a mother who kisses the offense into everlasting forgetfulness."
-Henry Ward Beecher

 

"Garden's At Cotswald Cottage" Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan"
By Jean Smith

When our children are young and they've been caught doing something naughty, they get this innocent look on their wee little face and sweetly give their apologies...'sorry mommy...'  What mother wouldn't just grab up that child into her arms and tenderly forgive?  Some offenses may be more minor than others... like snipping up a favorite magazine or snipping at a new dress... bit of frustration either way, but one is by far more serious than the other. 

Well yesterday was one of those days for Evan... my sweet little Evan.  You see, he has taken quite a liking to scissors and every now and then he happens to get this internal inclination to 'snip' away at something. He'll sneak off and just start snipping at things... I have no idea why other than it must be a full moon coming! Well, yesterday he got caught cutting some papers of no importance, thankfully... but it was still the 'I'm sorry mommy'. I tried to explain to him that he mustn't snip at things because he doesn't know if those papers are important or not... like a mortgage note!  He gave that innocent little look that I know and so I reiderated how he must not snip at my papers! He went off with a hug and smile, until next time...

We, like our children do things that need to be made right... and again some are little things while others are major. When we apologize don't we want that unconditional forgiveness... a hug and a smile from the ones we've wronged? A let's move forward and leave this behind us... Of course we do. It isn't difficult for us to forgive our children... but what about our spouse... or a dear friend... or a co-worker... it's not always so easy to forgive those offenses. Yet it is necesary for all involved so healing can take place, for both the offender and the offended.

Isn't that the way our Heavenly Father is with us? As we come to Him with a sincerely repentant heart and ask forgiveness He gathers us up into His arms and cast's that offense into everlasting forgetfulness.  Our hearts desire should be to grow into this kind of love and remember that "...as far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us."  Psalms 103:12

Until next time,
Jean
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Distractions

"Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window." Tozer

We are wanderers... we get side tracked with the everyday things in life and begin to wander... suddenly we find ourselves in a dark valley and wonder how we got there... we feel alone.  We begin looking around for some familiar thing, some comfortable thing that feels like home... but it just doesn't seem right....

When I was a child I was a wanderer.  When we went on school field trips none of the parent chaperones ever wanted me in their group because I was always the one that got lost. I remember getting lost at The Detroit Zoo, at The Henry Ford Museum and several other places.  It was a sickening feeling as a child... to suddenly look up and there be a sea of faces around and none that you know.  I would start to cry and of course someone that worked there would find me and bring me back to my group.  Now as a parent I have taken my children to these places and I am always so cautious of where they are.  I've told them all my horror stories of getting lost, so I think I have instilled a sacred fear in them.  As a parent it is a different kind of sickening feeling... the thought of losing a child...

When I say lose a child I don't only mean in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense... they both give me that empty feeling... a feeling I hope and pray I will never know.  There are so many people lost out there today... lost and hopeless.  But they don't have to be... Jesus is there ever waiting with open arms to gather them into His fold... to protect and give meaning to one's life. 

Only He can fill the void that leaves one feeling empty and without meaning...
If you have wandered away... if you are lost and don't know where to turn... if you're struggling with the cares of life... Jesus has all the answers... He is your hope... call unto Him and He will answer... like the wandering bird coming back...

Until next time,
Jean