I know what it feels like to be let down. I bet you do too. We expect a lot from each other. But we are human beings. We screw up. We let others and ourselves down all the time. We forget to text or call that friend on her birthday. We forget to pick up that thing at the store our significant other asked us to stop and get as a favor. We stare at our phones instead of paying attention to the person we are with when they need us to listen. We don’t think to ask how someone is doing when they are struggling with something we don’t understand. We forget to just be there. I am probably the most imperfect person I know. I know I am flawed. I can chalk my forgetfulness up to ADD but at the end of the day, did I REALLY try? Did I really listen to that friend in need? Was I so consumed by my own thoughts that I couldn’t hear her cry for help?
There are varying degrees for which we must learn to forgive. The little white lie someone told. The infidelity in a marriage. A husband beating a wife. A mom forgetting to pick up her child because she was drunk. Hurtful words said in a heated argument that can never be taken back. I am just thinking of random things. What have you experienced recently that has put you in a situation where you need to forgive someone and move on with life? What have you done to someone else that you are beating yourself up for because you cannot turn it around? Relationships and friendships end every day as a result of hurtful words or action. Or inaction for that matter. When we learn to forgive…we learn to love. We learn what it means to be free.
I had an experience happen to me in 2011 that set me full of rage inside. Someone I knew for many years and trusted betrayed me in a way I never imagined. I had been trying to help that person and it totally backfired. This person wrecked my car without permission to drive it and stole from me while I was out of town. Then disappeared. I was enraged for a couple of months over it. Like I had no idea I could be that mad at another human being. I texted and called and expressed my thoughts, which were not polite at all. I never received a response. Time passed and guilt set in. I said some really terrible things to someone I cared about as a reaction to their betrayal. After the smoke cleared, I felt like a failure. This person needed love, not hate. Hate never conquers hate. Only love conquers hate. I still to this day feel guilty about it. It was not ME. I was not in a good state of mind that year. Or the year before or the few years after. I didn’t love me. And that person on the receiving end was not himself either.
We are doing our best. And with each experience we mess up a bit. But we get back on the saddle with our new knowledge and we ride again. Forgive others and forgive ourselves. We are forgiven because of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who died for our sins. Cast your failures aside and get back up. You have a purpose. You are not a failure to God you are a forgiven child.
Blessings,
Stacey ~ iamalive