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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The Irony of Death

This past week I experienced three deaths. The first being a stranger and the other two friends. I've had a really hard time pulling this together... When it came to me I was driving and I had the whole thing in my mind... I wish I had had a notebook. Often writings here are happy and jovial... maybe that's why this is so hard for me... I have something to say... but it's too close... the pain that is.

The first death was the one earlier in the week... it was an unexpected tragedy that this mans friends and family members were all of a sudden handed to deal with. Friday morning I got a message that a friend who had been battling cancer passed away the day before... then Saturday morning a message of yet another. The two latter were anticipated to some degree. Yes, hope was there for healing and for a time there was... but this monster defeated these two dear ladies in the end.  Although my friends loved ones were able to say good bye, there is still the pain that they are left to deal with. 

There is not just physical death though... there are deaths of relationships as well. I would venture to say that many of us have in one way or another experienced at least one.  These too can be sudden or long and drawn out...  and just as painful...

Relationships like healing take work, hard work.  They take the efforts of all involved...kindness, love, patience and long suffering need to be in place.  Sometimes those hurts have been buried for a long time, festering underneath causing disturbances along life's path. Having never been properly dealt with they seem to continually creep into our lives.  Then there are those sudden loses that leave you wondering what happened.  Either way, pain is involved.

As those deaths rise up in my life, whether physical or relational, I must keep my focus on a higher calling... a calling that when life ends I will hear those blessed words, 'Well done my faithful servant, enter thou into the joys of the Lord..."

Until next time,
Jean