for-give [fer-giv] verb
1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.); absolve.
2. to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.).
3. to grant pardon to (a person).
4. to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one's enemies.
5. to cancel an indebtedness or liability of: to forgive the interest owed on a loan.
Many years ago there was a young woman who felt she had been wronged in the worst way. She had been blindsided and left with a broken heart. What she had tried so desperately to hang on to was gone. She was angry and placed blame where she felt it was due. She wore her anger and hurt like a badge of honor. She thought of nothing else but the pain. She let the anger consume her and dictate her day to day activities. She learned to hate. She would seek out opportunities to unleash the hatred. She was miserable.
One day, she sat down and talked to a young minister about her plight, about her despair. He listened intently, letting her spill the entire story. When she was finished, he spoke these word, "You don't have to like that person, but you have to forgive them."
That young woman was me and I can remember, as if it was yesterday, the words he spoke. I can remember looking at him and thinking "did you not hear what I just told you!" I mean, for crying out loud, didn't he want to jump on my bandwagon of despair and suffering? To tell me that I HAVE to do that! I didn't HAVE to do a damn thing!
But, he was right. I didn't have to do anything, but I needed to.
Something deep down in my very soul stirred and his words became a turning point in my life. Did I spin around like a top and suddenly feel better? No, but I learned a lot about forgiveness.
Forgiving is not something we give, it is something we do. It's an action on our part. It's not for the other person, it is for ourselves. It involves nothing more than a decision to do it. To forgive does not use any energy compared to the energy used by staying angry. Forgiving is much easier than hanging onto anger and past hurt, that's why we don't like to do it. We like to feel in control of the situation and control takes lots of effort. Once the decision is made to forgive, the healing starts and it starts immediately, mending all the damage done by the anger and hatred.
There may be a few scars, but they are just subtle reminders of a life lived and a lesson learned.
The old phrase, 'to err is human, to forgive is divine' does not mean we can not forgive. To me, it means that yes, we are going to make mistakes, everyone does, but to forgive gives us a touch of the divine nature of God. Scripture tells us that God is love and in that bright whiteness of purity, there is no room for darkness, for pain, for holding grudges.
Learn to forgive. It may be the easiest hardest thing you've ever done, but the dividends will last a lifetime and beyond.
Friday, July 31, 2015
Thursday, July 30, 2015
A Well Oiled Machine
Anyone who lives around these parts knows that we were recently hit with a big storm. With the ground already being saturated with rain, lots of big trees were uprooted by the wind along with countless broken tree limbs.
The clean up process has been slow simply because it has been hard to find a spot to put countless limbs and other tree parts. The streets have been lined with piles of tree debris for a couple of weeks and although it is understandable, it has been kind of depressing. It's hard to make one's yard look nice when there is a huge fence of tangled wood lining the front of the property.
Suddenly, there was light at the end of the tunnel. I could hear the reverse warning beepers going off and it seemed to be coming from all directions. Then came the loud whoosh of air brakes releasing and Runtly decided he had about all the excitement he could stand. Within minutes, he was safe and sound, back in his blanket covered kennel.
I went to the front porch as to inquire about all the noise and realized a well oiled machine had been put into motion. As far as I could see, at every intersection up the street, sat either a large flat bed truck or a dump truck. Between the trucks was a large yellow machine with a set of giant jaws on the front along with a smaller "bobcat" machine with its own set of grabbing jaws. It was the most well orchestrated attack I had ever seen. These machines grabbed, plucked and gobbled up huge piles of branches and would then deliver them to the trucks. When the trucks were full, they would leave and the ballet of branches would move up to the next waiting truck. I thought having one of these jaw grabbing monsters might come in handy if ever I needed to re-arrange a few large rocks, but I was sure my husband would not join in my enthusiasm.
I watched this until they were no longer in sight. With a good portion of the debris gone, I was so inspired I decided it was time to pull some weeds out of the driveway. Since the noise level had dropped considerably, I retrieved Runtly. Runtly likes to help do whatever anyone happens to be doing at the time, and pulling weeds was no exception. I was trying to be sure to shake as much gravel out of the roots as possible before tossing crab and water grass clumps into a pile. Runtly had a much better idea and proceeded to attack the clumps, shake them with a vengeance and send rocks and dirt flying in all directions. It wasn't long before my shoes were filled with grit.
It ended up we spent most of the day weeding, mowing and trimming. When it was all said and done, things sure looked nice. Seeing so much of the mess gone felt like a breath of fresh air and a knowing that soon, things would be back to normal.
I later learned that the trucks had come from surrounding communities to help with the clean up. It is good to know that in times of trouble, if we would just ask, there are people and places that are more than willing to help. That, in itself, is a well oiled machine.
The clean up process has been slow simply because it has been hard to find a spot to put countless limbs and other tree parts. The streets have been lined with piles of tree debris for a couple of weeks and although it is understandable, it has been kind of depressing. It's hard to make one's yard look nice when there is a huge fence of tangled wood lining the front of the property.
Suddenly, there was light at the end of the tunnel. I could hear the reverse warning beepers going off and it seemed to be coming from all directions. Then came the loud whoosh of air brakes releasing and Runtly decided he had about all the excitement he could stand. Within minutes, he was safe and sound, back in his blanket covered kennel.
I went to the front porch as to inquire about all the noise and realized a well oiled machine had been put into motion. As far as I could see, at every intersection up the street, sat either a large flat bed truck or a dump truck. Between the trucks was a large yellow machine with a set of giant jaws on the front along with a smaller "bobcat" machine with its own set of grabbing jaws. It was the most well orchestrated attack I had ever seen. These machines grabbed, plucked and gobbled up huge piles of branches and would then deliver them to the trucks. When the trucks were full, they would leave and the ballet of branches would move up to the next waiting truck. I thought having one of these jaw grabbing monsters might come in handy if ever I needed to re-arrange a few large rocks, but I was sure my husband would not join in my enthusiasm.
I watched this until they were no longer in sight. With a good portion of the debris gone, I was so inspired I decided it was time to pull some weeds out of the driveway. Since the noise level had dropped considerably, I retrieved Runtly. Runtly likes to help do whatever anyone happens to be doing at the time, and pulling weeds was no exception. I was trying to be sure to shake as much gravel out of the roots as possible before tossing crab and water grass clumps into a pile. Runtly had a much better idea and proceeded to attack the clumps, shake them with a vengeance and send rocks and dirt flying in all directions. It wasn't long before my shoes were filled with grit.
It ended up we spent most of the day weeding, mowing and trimming. When it was all said and done, things sure looked nice. Seeing so much of the mess gone felt like a breath of fresh air and a knowing that soon, things would be back to normal.
I later learned that the trucks had come from surrounding communities to help with the clean up. It is good to know that in times of trouble, if we would just ask, there are people and places that are more than willing to help. That, in itself, is a well oiled machine.
Monday, July 20, 2015
New Revenue?
My husband and I were sitting on the back deck, conversing about the days' events when he said, "Look at that." I glanced up, mid sentence, and there it was, a huge dark gray cloud, pushing in from the west. Along the front edge of this line of darkness was a silvery blue line, I grabbed my phone and began to video.
I always thought I would like to be a storm chaser, living on the edge of danger and excitement. Two minutes later, I was hightailing it to the basement. My husband stopped along the way to open the south door to the front porch. "What are you doing?", I hollered.
"I want to watch!", he answered. He opened the door, Runtly shot out on the porch and the sideways flying hail was skidding across the floor. It wasn't long before he and the dog were right behind me going down the basement stairs.
The chaos that ensued from that point probably did not last a total of five minutes. When we emerged from the deep, our street looked like a war zone. Trees and limbs were down as far as the eye could see. It wasn't just our street, the entire town had been hit and hit hard.
Many decades old trees had been completely uprooted and power lines were down all over town. Of course, this meant no electricity. Living in an age of many creature comforts, having no electricity tends to make folks grumpy. Not only does it make people grumpy, it messes with the senses. Somewhere during Runtly's last outing for the night, I stepped in cat poo. I then proceeded to track it through the kitchen, up the stairs and the majority of it fell off my shoe right outside the bedroom door. My shoes were right by the side of the bed all night and I never smelled a thing. I guess not being able to run the ceiling fan kept the odor at bay, not to mention being so hot and sticky that smelling nasty cat poo was the least of my worries.
The power was out for over 24 hours and it is hard to tell how many light switched I turned on out of habit. I did discover that one could still clean with a broom.
One week later, the streets are still lined with piles of broken limbs, chainsawed tree parts and wet rotting leaves. Once again, folks are getting grumpy with the mess. What most people do not understand is, there is no place to put hundreds of trees....all at once. Even if there was a huge open field where all the debris could be placed, it would be impossible to get to the middle of it because of the ground being saturated with rain. I think even a bulldozer would lose the match between man made power and Mother Nature.
So, here's my idea. If we had access to a large open field, we could build a catapult. It would have to be a huge one, but what the heck, the bigger, the better. We could load it down with tree debris and fling it out to the middle of the field. After about three or four big loads, we could fill it with a few old tires, pour on some gasoline, light it up and let that baby fly. Not only would this be a sight to see, it'd be great fun. We could charge admission to watch the catapult in action and have a special fee for being able to pull the catapult trigger.
I think it will work. We may not make a lot of money, but maybe enough to replace a few trees.
I always thought I would like to be a storm chaser, living on the edge of danger and excitement. Two minutes later, I was hightailing it to the basement. My husband stopped along the way to open the south door to the front porch. "What are you doing?", I hollered.
"I want to watch!", he answered. He opened the door, Runtly shot out on the porch and the sideways flying hail was skidding across the floor. It wasn't long before he and the dog were right behind me going down the basement stairs.
The chaos that ensued from that point probably did not last a total of five minutes. When we emerged from the deep, our street looked like a war zone. Trees and limbs were down as far as the eye could see. It wasn't just our street, the entire town had been hit and hit hard.
Many decades old trees had been completely uprooted and power lines were down all over town. Of course, this meant no electricity. Living in an age of many creature comforts, having no electricity tends to make folks grumpy. Not only does it make people grumpy, it messes with the senses. Somewhere during Runtly's last outing for the night, I stepped in cat poo. I then proceeded to track it through the kitchen, up the stairs and the majority of it fell off my shoe right outside the bedroom door. My shoes were right by the side of the bed all night and I never smelled a thing. I guess not being able to run the ceiling fan kept the odor at bay, not to mention being so hot and sticky that smelling nasty cat poo was the least of my worries.
The power was out for over 24 hours and it is hard to tell how many light switched I turned on out of habit. I did discover that one could still clean with a broom.
One week later, the streets are still lined with piles of broken limbs, chainsawed tree parts and wet rotting leaves. Once again, folks are getting grumpy with the mess. What most people do not understand is, there is no place to put hundreds of trees....all at once. Even if there was a huge open field where all the debris could be placed, it would be impossible to get to the middle of it because of the ground being saturated with rain. I think even a bulldozer would lose the match between man made power and Mother Nature.
So, here's my idea. If we had access to a large open field, we could build a catapult. It would have to be a huge one, but what the heck, the bigger, the better. We could load it down with tree debris and fling it out to the middle of the field. After about three or four big loads, we could fill it with a few old tires, pour on some gasoline, light it up and let that baby fly. Not only would this be a sight to see, it'd be great fun. We could charge admission to watch the catapult in action and have a special fee for being able to pull the catapult trigger.
I think it will work. We may not make a lot of money, but maybe enough to replace a few trees.
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
Just The Way It Is
The Voice, that lives in my head and other places in my personal space, and I took Runtly for a walk. Of course, it was one of many walks during the day, but the Voice usually hangs back, choosing to lounge on the deck and watch the clouds roll by.
This time the Voice decided to go along. It romped along with the dog, following closely behind, checking on all the things Runtly had to stop and smell. On occasion, it would make a gagging sound. Runtly has no preference as to where his nose may go, if it stinks, it's good.
I, on the other hand, was not in a jovial mood. I was frustrated. There were so many thoughts dancing around in my grey matter that I felt like I could not think at all. The Voice, with its encompassing wisdom and ever so thoughtful tact, noticed my situation and said, "My, my, aren't you just a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day." I muttered something under my breath in response and the Voice said, "I didn't mean that as a compliment."
"I'm aware of that." I answered back. "I've just got a lot on my mind."
The Voice was inspecting a piece of trash that Runtly was happily carrying down the street. "I wish people would not throw their trash along side the road.", I grumbled.
"But they do, right?", the Voice quizzed.
"Yes."
"Sooooo", the Voice crooned, "Why don't you pick it up? It's obvious they are not going to stop doing it and you can not make them stop throwing their trash out. So, rather than gripe and stew about something that is completely out of your control, either ignore it or pick it up."
I was thinking I wished the Voice had stayed on the deck. It continued, "Most of the stuff you are worrying about has nothing to do with you. You have let it bother you and while doing so, it takes away your creativity. It keeps you stagnant, like a bucket of water or a pond with no outlet, or a mud ..."
"I know what stagnant means!"
"Very well.", said the Voice. "Then you understand that being in that frame of mind does you no favors. Nobody wants to be around a whiner or a downer. You have made the choice to be upset so just stop it. There are always going to be things happen that might not seem like they are 'good' to you and there are always going to be people who choose to live differently. You cannot control those things. What you can do is make the choice to be yourself. Continue to set an example, if you so choose, and if someone takes notice, so be it. And if not, at least you will have been true to you."
As usual, the Voice was right. I was worrying about things that I could do absolutely nothing about. I needed to change my focus to the things I knew I could accomplish. Change is never easy to do or accept. But life is full of changes and standing looking backwards gets a person nowhere.....nowhere at all.
We were approaching the gravel driveway that leads to the back of the house when I noticed the flower. It was one lone petunia that had seeded from last years plants. It was growing out of the gravel and had a single dark pink bloom. I was looking at it, thinking about how out of adversity, there was hope.
Runtly walked over, inspected the flower, bit the bloom off and swallowed it. The Voice laughed hysterically, chucked me on the shoulder and scampered up the steps with the dog.
This time the Voice decided to go along. It romped along with the dog, following closely behind, checking on all the things Runtly had to stop and smell. On occasion, it would make a gagging sound. Runtly has no preference as to where his nose may go, if it stinks, it's good.
I, on the other hand, was not in a jovial mood. I was frustrated. There were so many thoughts dancing around in my grey matter that I felt like I could not think at all. The Voice, with its encompassing wisdom and ever so thoughtful tact, noticed my situation and said, "My, my, aren't you just a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day." I muttered something under my breath in response and the Voice said, "I didn't mean that as a compliment."
"I'm aware of that." I answered back. "I've just got a lot on my mind."
The Voice was inspecting a piece of trash that Runtly was happily carrying down the street. "I wish people would not throw their trash along side the road.", I grumbled.
"But they do, right?", the Voice quizzed.
"Yes."
"Sooooo", the Voice crooned, "Why don't you pick it up? It's obvious they are not going to stop doing it and you can not make them stop throwing their trash out. So, rather than gripe and stew about something that is completely out of your control, either ignore it or pick it up."
I was thinking I wished the Voice had stayed on the deck. It continued, "Most of the stuff you are worrying about has nothing to do with you. You have let it bother you and while doing so, it takes away your creativity. It keeps you stagnant, like a bucket of water or a pond with no outlet, or a mud ..."
"I know what stagnant means!"
"Very well.", said the Voice. "Then you understand that being in that frame of mind does you no favors. Nobody wants to be around a whiner or a downer. You have made the choice to be upset so just stop it. There are always going to be things happen that might not seem like they are 'good' to you and there are always going to be people who choose to live differently. You cannot control those things. What you can do is make the choice to be yourself. Continue to set an example, if you so choose, and if someone takes notice, so be it. And if not, at least you will have been true to you."
As usual, the Voice was right. I was worrying about things that I could do absolutely nothing about. I needed to change my focus to the things I knew I could accomplish. Change is never easy to do or accept. But life is full of changes and standing looking backwards gets a person nowhere.....nowhere at all.
We were approaching the gravel driveway that leads to the back of the house when I noticed the flower. It was one lone petunia that had seeded from last years plants. It was growing out of the gravel and had a single dark pink bloom. I was looking at it, thinking about how out of adversity, there was hope.
Runtly walked over, inspected the flower, bit the bloom off and swallowed it. The Voice laughed hysterically, chucked me on the shoulder and scampered up the steps with the dog.
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