Letting go...

As I sit in my kitchen (my happy place) and do my Saturday morning thing, there are lots of thoughts running through my head.  How many of us spend so much time regretting or being angry towards things in the past that we ruin our future?   It could be a friendship, a relationship or issues with family members.  Many times we are so busy being angry, so busy holding a grudge and proving a point, that we forget what we were even angry about to begin with.  We are so busy looking at the past and fuming over it - that we can't enjoy what we are given today. As I was growing up, I was always taught to forgive - taught to love my enemy.  Although, those things sound simple - they are not. How often do we think about forgiving ourselves?  In order to forgive yourself or someone else, you have to let go of anger - and we all know that sometimes that is not an easy thing to do.   Do we hold on to the anger of the past because we don't like change ~ we want everything to stay the same?  Possibly.

I am a person who does NOT like change.  I don't like traditions to be broken, I don't even like the menu to change for Christmas dinner.  I absolutely hate change.  But...in the last eight years I have had more change than I ever wanted.   Looking back now ~ I know I held on to some things longer than I should have out of anger, or maybe even out of spite.  I know I haven't given every opportunity that presented itself, the dedication it needed, because I was trying to make sure that I didn't get hurt again.   I also know, other things I held onto longer than I should have because I simply do NOT like change.

Colossians 3:13 - 15 says, "bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you must also do. But, above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful."

We all make mistakes, and we all hurt others... even when it was not our intention.  It's funny, the more you love someone - the more you tend to hurt them.  When you know someone inside and out, you know how to push their buttons.  You know what makes them happy, what makes them sad... you know them as well as you know yourself.  So, not only does it make it easy to make them happy - it makes it easy to hurt them. And... for some crazy reason, it makes it hard to forgive them.   The key to a happy heart, is forgiveness! In order to forgive, we need to open our heart to God, and let Him work through us.

So, with all of this being said...  go mend some broken bridges, go give an unsuspecting person a hug.  You will be amazed at how great you feel when you simply let go!

Happy Saturday y'all!