Things made better ... in 1,2,3

 

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. (Exodus 34:6-7)

Disagreements happen. With spouse, family, friends or co-workers … there are times when we know “we are right and they are wrong”. Anger, frustration and “unlovely thoughts” take a stand. It happens to all of us. My husband has come to me in the past and said, “Will you forgive me in three minutes … or three hours?” He knows, that with me, it sometimes takes a little time. Yes, I will eventually forgive people. But I also admit there are times when I like “a good mad”. I relish those “I am right” thoughts and imagine all sorts of consequences to the one daring to not agree. Oh, but how quickly that slippery slope of unlovely thinking morphs into my whole nature turning ugly. Pride. Arrogance. Wanting to linger over this poisonous attitude. Wow! That’s not the kind of person I want to be!

So I forgive. Things get smoothed out in most cases and loving behavior is restored. Whether it takes three minutes or three hours really boils down to what kind of person I want to be. What kind of person do I want others to experience? No matter if they have asked for forgiveness or not, whether they deserve it or not - in the end what kind of character do I want to reflect? For whatever you hang on to has a way of growing; intensifying.

Choose to reflect God’s character.

Choose to let love grow.

Make things better, not worse.