Tag: forgiveness

Little things add up

Every day I walk in my neighborhood I take my trash grabber with me and a bag for collecting trash while I walk. It is amazing how much trash there is floating around on a daily basis. The worst days are when it is windy on trash pickup day. Things blow all around.

Here and there, it all adds up. These all can be labeled in different ways:
Cigarette butts
Little alcohol bottles
Fast food trash
Yard trash
Tools
Masks
Gloves
Candy wrappers

Every day I walk around the neighborhood I come back with a plastic grocery bag full of trash. And it is a result of a variety of contributions from the neighborhood and as well as the people who drive through it.

And it makes me think about the daily things in my own life. I have my own bad habits, good habits, dangerous habits, healthy habits, careless habits, caring habits, mindful habits, and mindless habits….

As I gather up the collection of things in the neighborhood “on the daily” or “on the weekly” it is a bit of a reflection of what I am doing with my own life. Am I being intentional about cleaning up some of those bad habits? Have I become so accustomed to them that I don’t even see them anymore? I bet the people in my life notice them even if I don’t. And I have some little eyes and ears around every week who see and hear my reaction to things. I don’t want those little ones to catch bad habits from me.

As you think about your daily habits, be encouraged by your healthy ones. And consider working on one of the unhealthy ones. We all have some of both. But, if you find a habit that is blocking your progress in another area of your life, it might be time to make a change.

Establishing a new pattern can help bust an old habit. God knows how we are, but He also desires us to be moving towards healthier choices and better ways of communicating. If you take an honest assessment of how you are doing and offer it to God, He will surely equip you with resources to overcome those areas where you need a little help. He absolutely loves you just as you are. And He wants to be with you as you grow in love, grace, mercy, and forgiveness!

The Root

Finding the root cause of something often takes time, dedication, skill, and usually money.

That grinding noise every time your car is running? There is a reason for it.

That water leak in your basement? Where is the breech?

That relationship struggle? What is behind it?

Everything ugly starts somewhere. But, sometimes we can’t see the origination spot because there are too many other presenting issues that make it difficult to find the root cause.

Sometimes there is a generational issue in a family. Sometimes an incident in the life of someone throws things off for a bit. Sometimes it is just the sin that is in the world and inside each of us.

But it all begins with sin. And sin began long ago in the Garden of Eden.

How many times I thought I was so sure that I never would have…

taken a bite of that apple…

denied I knew Jesus three times…

built a golden calf…

Yet, I have done all this and much more.

Chopping something down to its root is not enough because there are still sprouts that can come up from there. We need to dig out the root. Otherwise we think we conquered that thing, but it is still very much alive.

This thing — this sin that has taken root in our life can affect our health, our relationships with humans, and, most importantly, it will cause challenges in our relationship with God.

Is there something – some sin or some form of it – that keeps coming up in your life? Do you think you have conquered it only to have it rear its ugly head once again? Is it consistently causing issues in your life?

Ask God to help you understand the root cause of the pattern that seems to be on repeat in your life (aside from just acknowledging that we live in a sinful world and we are sinners). Ask for His direction in healing or resolving that issue. It may be good to talk to a trusted friend or a healthy Biblical counselor. Getting to the root of it doesn’t mean little sprouts won’t show up here and there. Of course, we are all works in progress. But as God does His work in and through you. you can be sure that He wants that situation to have healing and closure, too.

Sometimes it might involve forgiving someone. And that someone might even be yourself!

Default Responses

If I am feeling off and then have what I consider a challenging conversation, you might find me responding in my “default” setting.

I would love to say my default response is grace, love, and soft like a little bunny but it isn’t always.

When I am feeling vulnerable, depleted, or unappreciated I may respond with some ugliness.

This is why it is so important for me to anchor my day with God. Remembering His love and provision for me and acknowledging His grace, mercy, forgiveness, and love. It doesn’t make my responses perfect. But, if I get too many days away from remembering His work in my life, I more easily switch into a default response.

Knock, knock

I never really know what is on the other side of the door. I can try to peek out from a curtain window or I can look through the peephole if there is one.

Might it be flowers? Bad news? An opportunity to assist? Am I needed?

There are so many ways a day can go. If you can start your day by being the one to “ask, seek, and knock” you might find that you are in a better position to adjust to the needs of the day.

Approaching God and recognizing His gifts of forgiveness and grace puts our heart in a good space. Offering our prayers and intercessions is a beautiful way to start the day.

“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened”. Matthew 7:7-8 NIV

Regrets

Oohhhh. I have a few. Do you?

In the past, if I had a sleepless night, I have run through all of the regrets I have.

What a waste of energy. I feel like that is a perfect way for my day to get derailed. And, God is certainly not behind that.

In some situations, there aren’t “do overs” and sometimes our miss “takes” have some serious consequences. Sometimes we have done things simply out of ignorance. Other times, we have done things out of rebellion. Sometime we have deliberately done things or deliberately not done things without truly understanding the ramifications. Have you ever done something even when you were “old enough to know better?” Yea, me too.

How do you deal with your regrets?

Here is what I try to do:

a) realize and admit to the misstep, mistake, sin — whatever it is.
b) recognize that there may be some damage that cannot be reversed
c) if I was doing the best I knew at the time, accept that
d) ask for forgiveness from God and, if possible, from the others who were impacted
e) forgive myself
f) bring it back to God when I am stuck at any one of these steps

As humans, we make mistakes, missteps, and we sin. Sometimes we do this out of ignorance and sometimes it is very deliberate. And there are times that the aftermath of our decisions has some devastating consequences. We are sinners and we are living and working with other sinners. It can be ugly out there. It can be ugly in my heart.

But, God — He takes all of it. He can work through all of it. He can handle all of it. He can forgive all of it. He can redeem all of it.

God can.

Let Him do what only He can do. It won’t make everything rosy and perfect. But, He will bring it together in a message of love, grace, mercy, forgiveness, and redemption — over time.

It’s personal…

It might be easy to look at the events leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion and be shocked and disappointed about the betrayal by those who had a role in this agonizing and heartbreaking moment as it unfolded.

How could they?

How could God?

Jesus’ disciples, friends, and family had a front row seat. I can’t imagine watching it all. It’s easy to point an incredulous finger and have a look of disgust. But I have to remember that even though this took place before I drew my first breath, God’s plan was laid out…

…for me and my rebellion…

….for you and yours…

It’s personal.

God’s love came down and took our sins on as His own.

God provides all that we cannot: love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, and salvation.

Father, please give us eyes to see…

and hearts compelled to pray for those in our lives, especially those who are struggling. If we are shown a circumstance that might need action on our part, help us to step out and inquire in a loving way.

How can I help?

Forgive us when we see needs but don’t check in. It happens. Sometimes we miss the signs, but, other times, we sense are not in a position to help, or we are flat out unwilling. Give us the wisdom about when to gently ask, when to act, when to intercede, when to show up and help share the load.

Amen.

I “drop the ball”

You can count on me to let you down. In fact, I sometimes even let myself down.

For example, technology has not been my friend the last few days and that has led me to not have PrayerPoints for the last couple of days. I thought things were working and they weren’t. Of course, it wasn’t my intention. And I don’t see it as an excuse, but it is an explanation. It has taken me until today to figure out that there was a problem. And it will take me some time to figure out the solution.

So, I dropped the ball on my goal. I am probably more disappointed in myself than you are. When things don’t go the way we think they ought to go, there are a lot of reasons. But one thing is for sure —

God never drops the ball!

When we rely on humans and man-made systems, we might end up delightfully surprised (in a good way) at the outcome or we might be devastatingly discouraged. It’s the nature of living on Earth. Nothing is perfect here — even if it looks that way on the outside.

But God sees and knows our struggles and He covers the gaps we leave. I take great comfort in that. God has brought people in my life for me to love, support, and encourage, and I am so thankful. But I do this imperfectly because I am me. I will forget the date that is important to you. I will be so deep in the middle of my stuff that I might not see you and your needs. It is not only possible, it is probable, and it has happened more than once.

Humans will always let you down. You can count on that.

But God. Well, that’s another story. He is always on time.

God sees us. He knows us. He is dependable.

I am so thankful for this Truth!

I have idols

No, I don’t have a golden calf in my back yard, but I definitely let other things step in front of my relationships with God.

In fact, I am probably my own worst idol. There are things I want to have and do and while that in and of itself is not really a problem, when I put my attaining those things above God, it is.

Idols distract me from seeing important things. Chasing after them takes center stage and, considering I have already lived at least half my life, I look back and I see I have wasted a lot of time pursuing things that do not bring joy or whatever I thought it was that they gave.

Do you have any idols? Maybe yours are similar to mine: comfort, control, approval, money. I am sure I have more hidden under my tent, scattered here and there. Becoming aware of them is the first step. Confessing them and asking for forgiveness is the next.

Create in me a clean heart, O God.
    Renew a loyal spirit within me. Psalm 51:10 NLT

Dismantling them is the next part of action. But how does one go about removing, eliminating, destroying the idols in their lives? Each person might answer that differently.

May you have eyes to see your idols and God’s strength to discard them and live your life in His freedom and grace!