This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and
be glad in it.
I laid awake in the early hours this morning thinking about
what title I should give this post.
There were so many options; not unlike the many choices that we are given
each and every day. Some of these decisions
are ones that we probably do without even really giving much thought to
actually. Breathing is a bit extreme
perhaps because we just do it; breathe in and breathe out; it is pretty
automatic yes; but I have come to realise that some choices we make should be
as automatic as breathing.
What do I mean you ask?
Where are you going with this you ask?
Well, I am glad you made the choice to ask the question and to continue
reading.
If you wait for the day to feel like it, it will never
come. That is why ‘This Is The Day.’ The day for what? Ah, another question; well done. It is important to ask questions so that we
can understand ‘things’ better. What
things? So many questions, so little
time and sometimes ours is not to know the answer. I believe that we can get in our own way
sometimes and make things more complicated than they really are – I know from
personal experience because I am known to over analyse things. Like even now, the word analyse….hhhhmmmm……the
English language gives me a choice. I
can write like a Canadian who I am proud to call myself (analyze), or I can
choose the Australian spelling (analyse), my current homeland to which I also
love.
Yeah, life can get confusing and complicated sometimes and I
know that first hand. I have not written
a lot about my story for the past couple of years, but ‘this is the day’. I am going to start sharing and there is so
much I want to tell, and I have made the choice to start.
I will probably jump around a bit, and it is my hope that
the folks that need to take something away from what I share do just that and
perhaps others may share my post with others through the vast social media
options – goodness knows we have so many choices right there and it is hard to
keep up. I have contemplated a twitter
account but I have made a choice ‘not yet’.
I recently culled a few apps from my iPhone because I do not need an app
for everything and why not just go to a website, even if is not mobile
friendly; I can usually find what I need.
So back on track to a bit of my story. If I only had the opportunity to write one blog
article this year, and as I have called it ‘This Is The Day’, let me encourage
you to make a choice to forgive. We make
it more complicated than it needs to be, really. We will very likely never do it if we wait
until we feel like it, and I do not believe it has to do with thinking
positively because let’s face it, the stuff we might be holding onto, well,
there is nothing positive about it. If
we try to work out what we need to learn from it; well, what we need to learn
from it, is to let it go.
No, I am not suggesting that you push down the pain of the
hurt and try to forget it. If it is something
serious you are dealing with, like I was and still am (but more on that in
future blog articles), then I very strongly suggest you talk to someone about
it so you can process your feelings in a healthy way to get ‘unstuck’;
otherwise, when you least expect it, the residual unresolved feelings will come
back and that is what we do not want.
Trust me on this. It will become
clearer. Forgiving should be as natural
as breathing; yep, you read that right.
Does it mean it is? Nope, but
remember what I said, if we wait until we feel like it, we never will. We think by withholding our forgiveness we are
empowering ourselves, but it actually has the complete reverse effect. We become prisoners of our bitterness and
resentment in our desire to control our environment.
If you are like me, you might think you forgive easily
already; but in fact, you say you do but you hold onto the offence because you
fear by letting it go, it will make you more vulnerable. Nope, negative, notta, not true. It really is the complete reverse. We are a broken people and whilst we strive
to do good and behave Godly, sometimes we stuff up and that is where God’s
grace comes in. Look at the best example
– Jesus – “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He was bleeding and dying on the cross when
He spoke these words – pretty incredible and hard to believe, but true story.
No, I am not going to preach a sermon or anything, but I
thought I was pretty good at forgiving and discovered that I actually struggled
with it because I let my feelings interfere with the process. It has become my firsthand understanding that
forgiveness first and feelings will follow and despite what my husband Peter
says (and yeah, I know he is biased), he thinks I am perfect and he married one
of God’s angels. Yeah, right – NOT! lol
On the contrary, I have made many mistakes and it is my husband
Peter that has helped me on my journey to understand the power in
forgiveness. It used to frustrate me so
the way he could just let things go without giving them another thought, but
that is exactly the way God intended forgiveness to operate. It is the opposition that wants us to get
ourselves tied up in knots over offences when the best thing we can do for
ourselves and the other people, is to forgive.
Remember Jesus on the cross? The
people probably do not even know what they need to ask forgiveness for in the
first place.
I read a blog post recently – if I can find it, I will share
the link here and give credit to where I was inspired by their story. This family is a blended family and one of
their children is disabled and with the business of their lives, their schedule,
the priority of their child’s care, they do not have time to take on offences;
they just get on with living. Now, the
author said this more eloquently than my one liner, but I hope you get my
point.
So, my closing thought…….
Is this your day?
