The path to happiness is forgiveness of everyone
and gratitude for everything.
When
we hold resentment toward another, we are bound to that person or
condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness
is the only way to dissolve that link and set us and the other party free
like what happens in the following story
inspired by the writings of unknown writer.
As the story goes, there was a little boy visiting his grandparents
on their farm.
He was given a slingshot to play with out in the
woods.
He practiced in the woods; but he could never
hit the target.
Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for
dinner.
As he was walking back he saw Grandma's pet
duck.
Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly,
hit the duck square in the head and killed it.
He was shocked and grieved!
In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the wood
pile; only to see his
sister watching! Sally had seen it all, but she
said nothing.
After lunch the
next day Grandma said, 'Sally, let's wash the
dishes.'
But Sally said, 'Grandma, Johnny told me he
wanted to help in the kitchen.'
Then she whispered to him, 'Remember the duck?'
So Johnny did the dishes.
Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children
wanted to go fishing and Grandma
said, 'I'm sorry but I need Sally to help make
supper.' Sally just smiled and said, 'Well
that's all right because Johnny told me he
wanted to help.' She whispered again,
'Remember the duck?' So Sally went fishing and
Johnny stayed to help.
After several days of Johnny doing both his
chores and Sally's; he
finally couldn't stand it any longer.
He came to Grandma and confessed that he had
killed the duck.
Grandma knelt down, gave him a hug and said,
'Sweetheart, I know. You see, I was standing at
the window and I saw the whole thing, but
because I love you, I forgave you. I was just
wondering how long you would let Sally make a
slave of you.'
Thought for the day and every day thereafter?
Whatever is in our past, whatever we have
done... and the devil keeps throwing it up in
our face (lying, cheating, debt, fear, bad
habits, hatred, anger, bitterness, etc.)
..whatever it is...we need to know that God was
standing at the window and He saw the whole
thing.
He has seen our whole life. He wants
us to
know that He loves us and that we are
forgiven. He's just wondering how long we will
let the devil make a slave of us.
The great thing about God is that when we ask
for forgiveness;
He not only forgives us, but He forgets.
It is by God's grace and mercy that we are
saved.
Go ahead and make the difference in someone's
life today. Share this with a friend and always remember:
God is at the window!
By Tim Pedrosa
Being
gentle means forgiving yourself when you mess up. We should learn from
our mistakes, but we shouldn't beat the tar out of ourselves over them.
The past is just that, past. Learn what went wrong and why. Make amends
if you need to. Then drop it and move on. -Sean Covey 12
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Tim
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