A Little Kindness Goes A Long Way

It is interesting to me personally how far a small act of forgiveness can go. I have seen it time and time again when I mess up, how nice it is to get the benefit of the doubt or to be given grace. It is as if someone lifted a load off of my back, a weight off of my shoulders. Recently I was supposed to do something and even said that I would take care of it. Somehow in the business of life, it slipped through, despite my outlook task box and notes to remind me.

I got the email: "I am ready, did it get done?" Crap, that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, I had forgotten to get it done. The child in me wanted to lie. But I knew better. I called, I am sorry I did not get it done, so sorry. The thing is that this person had every right to yell, condemn, pitch a fit. I had said I would get it done and did not get it done, no real excuse. Instead of condemnation they said, don't worry about it, I can do it this way instead. Wow, I was blown away, expecting the worst, I was instead given the best: forgiveness, grace. It was something so small but completely felt big. Probably I was overreacting but with all that is going on, I am a little fragile and that is the point isn't it.

We don't know what kind of day our friends and coworkers are having. We do not know the lightness or heaviness of their heart. They could be having a great day or the worst day of their life. Jesus calls me to love and forgive at all times. The big things somehow seem easier then the little things. The day to day disappointments and let downs somehow have a tendency to knock me off my axis more readily than the bigger more dramatic things. But Jesus' call to forgiveness is both in the big and the little things. The debt of millions of dollars and the slapping of a cheek are to be forgiven equally. When we meditate on the Sermon on the Mount, we come face to face with a new paradigm. We are to live our daily lives without judgment or condemnation. As one who received the better end of this, I can testify that it made me more able to serve out my day in joy. (I also took care of the unfinished business first thing).

May the peace of God and the love that He gives fill your hearts, overflowing.

Edwin