This is one more picture from this past Saturday when I was up in Breckenridge with my good friend...as the last rays of daylight were chasing us down an olde mountain mining road, from where we had hiked up to timberline on Mr. Baldy. Life is a lot like this as we find our way with the light we have, no matter our circumstances...what has happened to us...what we may have done to others.
Yesterday, at the church we attend, Southeast Christian Church in Parker, CO, the lead pastor, Phil Vaughn brought another exceptional message reminding us all to live forgiving and forgiven...which is like walking from the dark into the daylight of our lives. On the way out after the 9am service we were all handed a bookmark...much needed for this season in our world, in our country, in our neighborhoods, no matter where we live, in our own unfolding lives.
The texts of the bookmark are taken from a book by Lewis B. Smedes--The Art of Forgiving: When You Need to Forgive and Don't Know How. As we all begin a new work week, there is something in this list for each one of us (...most likely even several somethings...which I will share from time to time as we all get ready to leave 2016 behind and step into our futures in 2017...):
The most creative power given to the human spirit is the power to heal the wounds of a past it cannot change.
We do our forgiving alone inside our hearts and minds; what happens to the people we forgive depends on them.
The first person to benefit from forgiving is the one who does it.
Forgiving happens in three stages: We discover the humanity of the person who wronged us, we surrender our right to get even, and we wish that person well.
We forgive people only for what they do, never for what they are.
We forgive people only for wounding and wronging us; we do not forgive people for things we do not blame them for.
We cannot forgive a wrong unless we first blame the person who wrongs us.
Forgiving is a journey; the deeper the wound, the longer the journey.
Forgiving does not require us to reunite with the person who broke our trust.
We do not forgive because we are supposed to; we forgive when we are ready to be healed.
...more to come soon...
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