What exactly is a Fresh Friday? I don’t know. I was looking for something catchy to go with Friday.
So, I’m assuming I can define “Fresh” however I want.
I’m thinking along the lines of “Fresh Honest Perspective.”
So, here we have it…
I hold grudges. Yes…I do. You know how it says in 1 Corinthians 13 that Love holds no records of wrongs. I pretty much fail at this. I have a store house of records, all neatly typed and filed away in my heart, so that when the timing is right (of course…in the heat of battle…always prepared like William Wallace) I whip those suckers out and BAM!! Not only am I going to be upset about the conflict that is going on now…but also about the one from Section B Column Q Row 5.39. Gotcha!
I had a conversation with a girl yesterday, years younger than myself. “Conflicts could be resolved so much more easily if people were willing to concentrate on the issue at hand and not all the issues that happened in the past. Why can’t people just forgive? I mean…REALLY forgive?”
A Fresh Honest Perspective from the mouth of a 15 year old girl.
Why is it so hard to forgive? To hold no records of wrong?
And wouldn’t this world be just a little bit better if we attempted to take those files and records that we so bitterly store away for heated moments and just….throw them away?
How are we supposed to love one another with filing cabinets chained to our hearts?
Your wisdom is humbling to me.....your writing should be a book.....Love you.
ReplyDeleteThis is a hard one! I think in some ways, at least from a secular perspective, keeping a record of previous wrongs can be helpful.
ReplyDeleteWe need to protect ourselves from those people who are toxic and abusive. We need to be honest about our needs and insure that we are having them met (even if that just means going to God, but still, I don't think we can just sit idly and ignore reality. We have to interact with the world on some level).
I think the difficult part is not just forgiving, but finding a balance between forgiving and remembering. It's about making sure we actually resolve our conflicts and address our baggage; that we learn to take responsibility for our part and our perspective when we are disappointed or wronged.
When we look back at people's patterns of behavior, it's okay to say "I am really concerned about this" if we are, indeed, really concerned about it... We can have forgiven them and still say these things.
We can be sure we have not forgiven, though, when we use one's past behavior as an indictment against their character, or when rather than discussing our feelings, we're placing blame or holding someone else accountable for our own feelings.