Live Boldly: Forgive more and judge less. Mary Anne Radmacher
Today's quote is a courageous and risky choice to make...daily. It's not something you decide to do once and it happens. You have to make the choice daily. And some days it is harder to make the choice to be risky and courageous. Some days we just aren't up for it while other days we have the energy.
Why do I say that forgiving more and judging less is risky and requires courage? Because it requires you to open up and expose part of yourself emotionally. It means you are making a choice to risk getting hurt again. It means you are making a choice to not be someones judge and jury. It's a bold move to forgive more and judge less. It requires a strength in character to do it.
It is "second nature" for us to judge based on: appearance, political affiliation, religious preferences, job positions, school choice, etc. Pretty much anything that is different than what we would choose gives us grounds (in our minds) to judge. It's a radical and bold move to choose to not judge people who have made different choices than ours. It is a bold life we live when we accept people, not for what they wear or their choices but for the fact that they are created by the same One who created us and so therefore they have value. Whether they live up to that potential and value is their choice to make, which is a bold choice, and not ours to force on them. We are just asked to not judge them, remember there are people who are asked to not judge us for our choices!
It is also "second nature" to hold grudges and withhold forgiveness. I believe it is because we have a faulty idea of what forgiveness really is. We think that withholding forgiveness means we are punishing the person, sending the message that what they did was not okay. But that's not right at all! What happens when we don't forgive is we punish ourselves, we are the ones who hurt the most. And forgiving someone doesn't mean we are condoning or accepting what they did, it means we are choosing to let it go and not let it hold us hostage any longer. My friends, that is a bold and radical move. And as I pointed out above, people have to choose to forgive us for things we do. It all comes around, nobody is exempt from forgiveness - extending it and being in need of it.
What happens when we forgive more and judge less? We live a bolder life. We are free to extend grace and genuine love to others, we are free to receive grace and genuine love from others. We are released from keeping track of people and their choices and given freedom to just love them and appreciate who they are. It's all part of living boldly, living more in line with the One in whose image we have been created.
Today's quote is a courageous and risky choice to make...daily. It's not something you decide to do once and it happens. You have to make the choice daily. And some days it is harder to make the choice to be risky and courageous. Some days we just aren't up for it while other days we have the energy.
Why do I say that forgiving more and judging less is risky and requires courage? Because it requires you to open up and expose part of yourself emotionally. It means you are making a choice to risk getting hurt again. It means you are making a choice to not be someones judge and jury. It's a bold move to forgive more and judge less. It requires a strength in character to do it.
It is "second nature" for us to judge based on: appearance, political affiliation, religious preferences, job positions, school choice, etc. Pretty much anything that is different than what we would choose gives us grounds (in our minds) to judge. It's a radical and bold move to choose to not judge people who have made different choices than ours. It is a bold life we live when we accept people, not for what they wear or their choices but for the fact that they are created by the same One who created us and so therefore they have value. Whether they live up to that potential and value is their choice to make, which is a bold choice, and not ours to force on them. We are just asked to not judge them, remember there are people who are asked to not judge us for our choices!
It is also "second nature" to hold grudges and withhold forgiveness. I believe it is because we have a faulty idea of what forgiveness really is. We think that withholding forgiveness means we are punishing the person, sending the message that what they did was not okay. But that's not right at all! What happens when we don't forgive is we punish ourselves, we are the ones who hurt the most. And forgiving someone doesn't mean we are condoning or accepting what they did, it means we are choosing to let it go and not let it hold us hostage any longer. My friends, that is a bold and radical move. And as I pointed out above, people have to choose to forgive us for things we do. It all comes around, nobody is exempt from forgiveness - extending it and being in need of it.
What happens when we forgive more and judge less? We live a bolder life. We are free to extend grace and genuine love to others, we are free to receive grace and genuine love from others. We are released from keeping track of people and their choices and given freedom to just love them and appreciate who they are. It's all part of living boldly, living more in line with the One in whose image we have been created.
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