Not easy and not for whimps.
Loving those how have dealt us deadly blows that wounded our souls.
Can we?
Should we?
Yes.
Yes.
"For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect."
Matthew 5: 46-48
Jesus forgave those who took away His life as He hung on the cross.
He begged His Father to forgive them because they didn't know what they were doing.
His life was taken, but freely given, for love of us.
We carry our wounds within us, in our souls and in our hearts. These wound can fester, and we can become attached to them, so we nurture the hurt and pain. True love requires that we let go of this pain and give it to God. True love requires that we die to ourselves and give all we are to God.
True love requires that we FORGIVE.
The hurt and pain that is deep in our souls can be released, and often, to release it, we must experience it again. Each action of forgiveness is unique to the soul in which the pain lies.
God, like one who peels the skin of the onion away, often peels one layer at a time. This might be all the pain we can tolerate at this moment.
It hurts to feel this pain again, but when we give our pain to Jesus, He carries this part of our cross for us.
I had a dream a few weeks ago, about an experience in my life that was excruciatingly painful and pain filled.
I thought I had dealt with this, and I had, but there were still roots of the pain in my soul.
God opened that wound again in a dream, and even though I rarely remember my dreams anymore, I remembered this dream in painful detail. I realized that I had not yet completely forgiven, therefore, my love was imperfect towards the person who hurt me so dreadfully.
Even as I write, I want to run upstairs and pull out my art work where I can express my pain without anyone knowing it's there.
As I write this, I realize that my love is still imperfect because my forgiveness is also imperfect.
I must acknowledge the pain. I must feel the open wound.
I forgive and give this to God again.
I want to be perfect as our Heavenly Father is perfect, but that journey requires pain and suffering and
FORGIVENESS.
No, it's not easy to forgive, and no, it's not easy to love,
but we were commanded to do this by our Loving God who only wants the best for us.
The symbolism of my dream is lost now. It doesn't matter, anyway. What matters is that God felt welcomed enough to come into my soul and help me to forgive.
He soothed my soul with His heavenly balm.
He gave me His gift of love,
and
the pain, rejection, and abandonment that I felt was eased by removing this layer of skin.
God wants us all to forgive.
God wants us all to love.
He never said it would be easy.
His only begotten Son gave His life that we might be saved
His only begotten Son prayed for those who killed Him.
God the Father had to watch His Son die for those whom He loved.
Forgive.
Love.
Peace.
Prayers.
We live in Him.
We live through Him.
We live for Him.
AMEN.
No comments:
Post a Comment