Walk in the Way
Galatians 6:7-9, 2 Corinthians 9:6 (Reap what you Sow)
Ephesians 5:2 ESV
Romans 8:28 ESV
From the Jar
Sometimes I think it’s true that the good die young.
I’m not sure if that’s really true or if it just feels true. My dad was pretty young. The dear friend I just lost was pretty young.
My dad has been gone for a long time but I still remember how quick he was to love and forgive other people.
When I was young I wanted to fight back. I wanted him to fight back. I didn’t want him to forgive mean people for doing mean things.
But, gradually…ever so gradually I came to understand that it only hurts me when I hold onto resentment and anger.
The Apostle Paul was ever so correct…we do reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7-9, 2 Corinthians 9:6).
I had to make a decision that I did not want to sow seeds of anger. As we say in Missouri…Da’gum.
It’s not really as bad as it sounds. Forgiveness isn’t a feeling. It’s just a choice we make. I don’t have to feel like forgiving someone. I just have to choose to forgive. I need to tell God I forgive them.
That means I’m putting the matter into God’s hands.
I came to a point where I made a game of it. How quickly can I say to God, I forgive them.
Now it’s like…daaaahgum it feels good not to carry it!
It’s walkin’ in the way of love.
According to Ephesians 5:2, “Walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us,”
We choose God.
We choose love.
My dear friend that I lost had a wise soul. She laughed a lot. She was a Missouri mule. She had a bag full of sayings that were hilarious but they had a kick to ‘em.
She could tell the truth in such a way that it had a kick but still left you feeling warm and fuzzy inside.
She always had a sparkle in her eye.
Even though she might have been really really mad at someone, I never saw it. Instead she’d use her sas and her wit to give‘m a nudge.
Then she’d laugh.
Oh my she had a lovely laugh.
With her laugh and her ‘ol sas she’d love ‘um.
She’d win ‘m over.
Here’s the thing about her…just like all of us she’d been through some hard times. Even though she made it look like life for her had been all about a bowl of cherries, it really wasn’t.
She just knew how to use the bad for good. See, the bad taught her that life can be hard. It also taught her how to find the good.
She knew how to LOOK for or even make the good rise to the top.
She knew, “for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
She did love God.
She was a great pray-er.
She loved and shared the abundance of God’s love in her world.
In addition to that, she was generous to the poor and down-trodden. She fought for them. She didn’t care if someone was purple or green…she loved them.
She fought FOR them.
Their rights mattered to her.
They mattered.
When she died, I felt heaven’s door open. I knew she was safe in the arms of Jesus.
As Ephesians 5:2 says she walked (walks) in the way of love jes’ like Jesus did.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Love
Love and forgive someone today.
In God, Deborah