We left yesterday on a warm note of remembrance of the past. However, to give a balanced view, we must note not all memories are good ones. Every Christmas season, some families seemed doomed to repeat the not so merry times of the past.
What magic dust makes us believe that everyone just grows out of dysfunction … or that any season of the year has the power to make us love someone we always secretly resented or frankly, disliked? It makes for an even more interesting picture if that someone happens to be someone in our own family.
Members of families who don’t get together except on occasions like Christmas have often repressed the bad memories of the past. It is amazing how quickly two adults can deteriorate into a variation of “Mom always like you best.”
There is a gift we won’t find under the tree. It is The Gift of Forgiveness … a Gift you can give others … a Gift they can give you … and A Gift God gives as a Larger Gift than any of us can give.
In Chapter Twenty-Two of Christmas of Discovery, we look at how to both forgive … and forget. What keeps us trying to forgive old hurts? The mis-use of God’s Gift of remembering. Many people say, “I will forgive, but I tell you what, I won’t forget!” Not forgetting is the chain that pulls us back into the hurt again and again. Would you more easily forgive if it were the first time someone hurt you? Is it possible new hurts result in more pain because of our memory of all the other hurts that came before this one?
Does God ever forget anything? In fact He does!
Hebrews 8:12 records:
For I will be merciful regarding their wrong deeds
and I will never again remember their sins.
Isaiah 43:25 records:
I, even I, am He Who blots out your transgressions,
for My Own Sake,
and remembers your sins no more!
Ready to ask God how He does it? Let’s open the Gift of Forgiveness and Forgetfulness! You may want to start with your family and friends and move up to those you stopped calling family and friends long ago. But first, take a few moments to bask in the Wonder of how it feels to realize God does not remember your sins (the ones for which you have repented and received His Forgiveness) any more!
To listen to Chapter Twenty-Two, click on the title, The Season of Family Feud!
