forgiveness.

The Lord gave me a visual picture today. I was sitting on the patio as my girls played. They were getting along so well until one of them came running to me. She was crying that her sister had thrown mud on her shoes and now they were all dirty and oh how mean was she for doing such a thing. My initial thought was that of every mom; deal with it, get along, move on and don’t be bothered by such silly things, after all it was probably only an accident to begin with. But as I listened to the agony pouring out of her I looked further into the picture and saw that my other little girl was also crying. She had wronged her friend, her sister, and was now paying a very steep price. She had lost her playmate. To her it were as though her best friend had forever left her side and she sat on the ground and sobbed in her hands. I was paralyzed in the moment, I had no words or answers, only a broken heart. My heart ached for them both. I felt as God must feel when His children quarrel, when we fight or carry anger or discontentment. I felt the pain of human failure, the ache of realizing that even our precious children fall short and fail, both themselves and those around them. I felt the brokenness of a parent whose love runs so deep that nothing can reach the depths of it. I understood, in that moment, God’s love. I felt it. It was so powerful that I couldn’t even react to the initial “situation”, how could I? So I took my crying daughter into my arms and told her that I loved her, I told her that Jesus loved her, and I told her that in this life we have to make a choice. I told her that she could choose to walk back into the situation, even though she felt wronged, and forgive and fill what was broken with love. Or, she could choose anger. She looked at me, wiped her tears, and slowly walked back to where her sister was sitting and I saw her speak quietly, then she grabbed her hand and they stood together, smiled and hugged. It may have been the most incredible picture the Lord has ever shown me. A real vision of forgiveness and love. I suppose I could have remedied the problem, I could have offered my mom wisdom and told her to apologize and be kind. I could have made them hug and make up. It may have worked but I wouldn’t have gotten this amazing picture of God’s love out of it. I wouldn’t have learned this valuable lesson on forgiveness and love and I wouldn’t have had this story to share with you.

Be encouraged friends and keep your minds on higher things.

-written Nov 14, 2011