Happy Wednesday!

Prayer: “Dear Lord, as I meet a new day, I realize that someone may wrong me today. They may say something to me that is inappropriate or do something to me that is undeserved. If that happens, help me not to react in my flesh, but to respond in Your Spirit. May I be so full of Your Holy Spirit that, if I am jostled, it will be Your Holy Spirit that will come out of me and nothing else. I pray in Jesus’ Name, Amen”

Proverbs 19: 8, 11 “He who gets wisdom loves his soul; he who keeps understanding will find good…The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression.”

Today’s funny…The first phone call Bruce received this morning began like this…a woman called and said, “My two nephews were here for just one day…” I laughed for the next ten minutes. After just one day of a visit this woman was calling a repairman. Evidently the boys were wrestling and broke 12 panes of a 14 pane glass door. The boys were unhurt and they did not return today.

Do you suppose the woman with the visiting nephews reacted in love instead of acting in anger? Everyone gets mad. Sometimes our anger happens in an instant and sometimes we let it build up until we kind of explode with all of the little things we have let build up over time. Anger in itself is not wrong. There is definitely a place for righteous indignation when an injustice has been done; especially when the injustice has been done to others. When an injustice has been done to ourselves we need to be quick to forgive and forget. Forgiving, forgetting and moving on is a mark of wisdom and shows us exactly how Jesus lived. Jesus became angry at times, but He always showed forgiveness and did not hold the wrong against the wrong doer. Jesus forgave the thief on the cross and all of our sins past, present and future. Jesus modeled forgiveness using compassion and not counting the sins. He forgave the sin and loved the sinner.

If we are to model our actions after the One who has forgiven us then we must forgive the sin and love the sinner who wronged us. Forgiveness is a gift just as is the gift of wisdom and faith. God gives us the gifts of which we ask. A humble heart holds a forgiving spirit. Let us continue to live and love like Jesus and practice the gift of forgiveness.

Take joy in the journey. Wear comfortable shoes. Count your blessings and say your prayers. When you pray and have trouble forgiving someone ask Jesus to help you forgive them remembering that He is present in the midst of everything we do and say. Love you all, Bruce, Gaylene, Geni and Travis.

Gcapplenotes@aol.com

I am not moved by what I see. I am not moved by what I feel. I am moved only by what I believe and I believe God.