"Judge not, and ye shall not be judged:  condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned:  forgive, and ye shall be forgiven." Luke 6:37

This week has been an eye opener for me.  It seemed no matter where I turned, there was a message about forgiveness.   I then sat down and tried to retrace my steps to see if there was an unforgiving heart and/or attitude that I had, boy what a can of worms that opened.   Have you ever thought you did something only to find out you hadn't?  My little one often gets distracted by the very thing she is suppose to do.  I often tell her to pick up her toys.  And she well meaningfully started out to pick up her toys, but.....as I check on her progress, I often find her playing with them instead of picking them up.  That is kinda where I was at the forgiveness issue.   There was someone in my past who hurt me very deeply.  I honestly thought I had forgave him.  Our pastor's message Sunday was  about forgiveness.  He made an illustration of two women who got into it over an issue at church.  The pastor was the go between peace maker.  He finally made some head way with the two women, with one grudgingly saying okay "I forgive her but I don't want to see her or talk to her ever again."  He brought out the maturity level of this christian lady wasn't very high.  And she failed to see the  fact that she would be sharing an eternity with the other lady.  As I looked back at my life, I came to realize I was like this lady who didn't want to talk or be around the person who offended me.  I talked to my Jesus and then I tried my best to be still and quiet and listen to Him.  That is hard by the way, to be quiet and still and to listen to and for Him.  All I can do is come to Him daily with my unforgiving attitude and heart to let Jesus teach me to forgive.  Even if I have to come with the same thing for the same person.  And I also come to realize that the more into His holy word I put in my mind and heart the more willingly I forgive. 

There also came to mind things I needed to be forgiven for.  Did I mentioned the can of worms? 

May God bless each of you and have a blessed weekend. 

tsb