Letting go.........

Simply put, this could be one of the most difficult things for us to do in our lives, forgiving others for their transgressions that have offended us. Our compulsion to "get even" in order to bring balance back to the universe can be tenacious. There is not much that requires explanation regarding the dark nature that lives in each one of us...you know the darkness that tends to rear its ugly head in reaction to what we feel are violations against us. We have all felt infringed upon at some time in our lives, which undoubtedly, has summoned emotions to surface from the depth of our hearts. The question is....what do we do from there? Do we dismiss our feelings while swallowing the pain that will ultimately lead to rooted bitterness in our lives? Does forgiveness mean that the memory will dissipate from our minds? Will it ever stop playing like a sick movie in the far corners of our minds...over and over without ceasing...bordering on driving us to insanity? It is easy to speak of forgiveness but difficult to begin the process of releasing the death grip that we have on all of the iniquities that have found their way to our feet. For our own sanity and health we must, however, begin our recovery called forgiveness by simply letting go.

Luke 23:33-46

33 When they got to the place called Skull Hill, they crucified him, along with the criminals, one on his right, the other on his left.

34 Jesus prayed, "Father, forgive them; they don't know what they're doing."

the loving truth...

For many, this time of the year brings to the surface struggles of old and offers new challenges lying wait on the horizon for us to overcome. Although these battles are differing and personal to each one of us there is a constant that resides in all of our hearts…it is the desire to find seas of tranquility beyond the new horizon….for a more promising tomorrow? So I find myself grasping for words in order to fully explain what is surfacing in my own life while trying desperately to resolve the conflicts that quake through the canyons of my heart and mind.

These ominous cracks that exist in my own heart from past tremors of pain and the accompaniment of reactions that come as swiftly as death, due to those experiences, bleed relentlessly to the surface for all to see. The compulsion is to pay intense attention to all that is old….offer it more attention than it deserves and in doing so lose track of where I am going. Thoughts turn inward and the world begins to become drown out in the noise of self-pity. Cynicism sets in as the state of society becomes, evidently, to far gone into stormy seas to rescue. What could I really do anyway…there is far too much that is needed to make right all the transgressions that have darkened the doorsteps to the hearts of so many. Why spend precious time fighting the stormy winds of change? Since one will never truly “see” wind but only the evidence of destruction that is left in its wake…why even make an attempt if it will only leave countless memories of willing hands, clinched tightly, swinging furiously at the wind like those in a childish temper tantrum. In that very thought we find the sum of our self-produced love, or attempt there of, to be meager if measurable at all. It is a defining moment in our journey through the landscape of life that brings us into an understanding of how lacking of infinite power or the lack of power produced by infinite love, that we humanly possess. The need is great and the objective of affection will need exponential depth in order to feed the multitudes which are lacking the nourishment to face yet another mornings dawn. Awareness that humanity, at times, is far to stricken by the quakes that rumble beneath their feet to prevail over the paralysis propagated from glorious visions of self-sufficiency is at once indisputable. We are built to be used as instruments, that are in need of the breath of a living God to whisper through, in order for the hearts of those around us to be able to hear the harmonious melody of love produced by the exponential value of our willingness and God’s capacity to love at the depths necessary to bring life producing change.

As a follower of Christ, it is imperative to remember that “LIVING GREAT” is only one letter away from “LOVING GREAT”. The love that lives in me, powered by the love of Christ living through me, is multiplied to be exponentially greater…to reach deeper and farther than any other love and in doing so shatters cynicism and thaws the paralysis produced by the frigid heart of self-pity.