Tuesday, February 27, 2007
From AscensionNYC
Tuesday in the First Week of Lent
Psalm 34:15-22
Isaiah 55:6-11
Matthew 6:7-15
This was a challenge whispered into my brain when I was about 23 years old. I was living inMinneapolis Mississippi River . There was a tree, uprooted by a recent storm, which had been carried down the river, and it was caught in some rocks right below the bridge. The excess water from the rainstorm was powering along, causing whitewater to rise around the trapped tree.
It struck me. At the time I didn't know why. But it was beautiful, and sad, and frightening, and somehow deep. As I walked, staring at the tree and the water, I felt a chill and I heard the question: "How much can you let go of?"
That has become the question I always return to. In reading the lessons for today, the concept of forgiveness jumps out at me. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15, KJV). At the delta of forgiveness is, I think, release.
Forgiveness is a dish best served piping hot. The longer we hold onto our resentment, the more firmly it affixes itself to our hearts. It becomes a part of who we become, infecting our choices and hopes.
But forgiveness is no easy thing. In fact, sometimes I feel as if it is truly more than we are capable of. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9 KJV) saith the Lord.
Or to quote a Pope (despite the fact that we're Anglican): "To err is human, to forgive divine" (Alexander Pope in "Essay on Criticism").
I think what we are called to do is to turn our hurt and anger over to God and let him fill our hearts with compassion. I don't really understand forgiveness except to know that praying for the blessing and protection of people who make me mad puts my heart and mind in a better place. That said, we all know it's hard to shrug off the bad things people do to us. It's a lifelong process maybe, instead of a quick housecleaning.
I was that tree in the river, I think, when I was 23. It didn't occur to me at the time, but I guess that was why it was so affecting. Learning the value of letting go and forgiveness — or of at least trying to let go and trying to allow God to forgive me, and for me to forgive me, and for me to forgive the people in my life, and for God to bless the whole cast and crew – has allowed me to free myself from the rocks and continue my journey.
"The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate" (Psalm 34:22).
Isaiah 55:6-11
Matthew 6:7-15
This was a challenge whispered into my brain when I was about 23 years old. I was living in
It struck me. At the time I didn't know why. But it was beautiful, and sad, and frightening, and somehow deep. As I walked, staring at the tree and the water, I felt a chill and I heard the question: "How much can you let go of?"
That has become the question I always return to. In reading the lessons for today, the concept of forgiveness jumps out at me. "For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly father will also forgive you: But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your father forgive your trespasses." (Matthew 6:14-15, KJV). At the delta of forgiveness is, I think, release.
Forgiveness is a dish best served piping hot. The longer we hold onto our resentment, the more firmly it affixes itself to our hearts. It becomes a part of who we become, infecting our choices and hopes.
But forgiveness is no easy thing. In fact, sometimes I feel as if it is truly more than we are capable of. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:9 KJV) saith the Lord.
Or to quote a Pope (despite the fact that we're Anglican): "To err is human, to forgive divine" (Alexander Pope in "Essay on Criticism").
I think what we are called to do is to turn our hurt and anger over to God and let him fill our hearts with compassion. I don't really understand forgiveness except to know that praying for the blessing and protection of people who make me mad puts my heart and mind in a better place. That said, we all know it's hard to shrug off the bad things people do to us. It's a lifelong process maybe, instead of a quick housecleaning.
I was that tree in the river, I think, when I was 23. It didn't occur to me at the time, but I guess that was why it was so affecting. Learning the value of letting go and forgiveness — or of at least trying to let go and trying to allow God to forgive me, and for me to forgive me, and for me to forgive the people in my life, and for God to bless the whole cast and crew – has allowed me to free myself from the rocks and continue my journey.
"The Lord redeemeth the soul of his servants: and none of them that trust in him shall be desolate" (Psalm 34:22).
Sarah Johnson
