Like a special agent:
Gun drawn,
Expecting hostility.
What she sought,
She found.
Rounds of sarcasm and bitterness
Resound,
Ricochet--
Alleged self-defense.
Fear leaves two lying wounded,
Surrounded by spent shells.
Gunpowder words cannot be recalled.
**********************************
Agape love, God's love, "is not provoked;
does not keep a record of wrongs;
...bears all things,
believes all things,
hopes all things,
endures all things" (1 Cor. 13:5b, 7, HCSB).
One cannot discuss the Christian practice of love for very long without also mentioning forgiveness. The forgiveness at the heart of the Christian gospel message also lies at the heart of the Christian life.
In my experience and observation, the practice of forgiving love is learned first not in the grand displays of reconciliation in Rwanda or Corrie ten Boom's forgiving the Nazi prison guard, but in the little niggling offenses in the workplace, the household, the church, and the small group. Such things hardly seem worthy of forgiveness. Too petty or minor to cause any trouble. And yet they do.
If left unforgiven, they accumulate like miniscule snowflakes on a hillside, coloring future responses to even innocuous interactions, until an avalanche buries the relationship and only God's grace can restore.
I thank Him that His grace can restore.
And don't grieve God's Holy Spirit, who sealed you for the day of redemption. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ (Eph. 4:30-32, HCSB).
Walking with Him and the Holy Experience community, considering the practice of love...
...and congratulating Emily on her new arrival, even though there's no Imperfect Prose link-up this week:
