Good Monday Morning to You!

A friend like the one in the photo gives love unconditionally, this little guy loves to play and have fun, doesn’t hold a grudge and is always happy to see you.  Everybody ought to have a friend like that!

Of course, human friends require a little more careful care and feeding!

I’ve thought about this quite a lot; why are human friends so much more challenging than four legged ones? The first and most obvious answer is that human friends speak. When we mess up, they can, and probably will, point it out to us. On the other hand, the ability to communicate directly is one of the reasons that human relationships can be much more rewarding than relationships with animals.

Well, communication is something of a two-edged sword, isn’t it?

Thinking in progress…

A dog doesn’t hold a grudge and is always happy to see you. That isn’t always true of human friends, it isn’t always true of “us” either, is it?

Thing some more…

Hold on, I might have an idea.

Jesus taught us to love one another. That sounds nice, but isn’t always so easy to put into practice.

Still thinking…

OK, Jesus also taught that we should forgive one another when they mess up… but that isn’t so easy either. How could Jesus just stand there and tell us we must love one another and forgive one another? Would He order us to do things that cannot be done?

Unless…

To love one another and to forgive one another have nothing to do with feelings or emotions― they are choices we make that don’t necessarily reflect the feelings of the moment, but reflect a standard of godly conduct that we are committed to because we love our Lord who has forgiven us and loved us without condition.

Yes, that’s it. Love and forgiveness are choices we make even when we may not feel like it in the moment, because we love God more than the feeling of the moment.

I know this may sound crazy, but it must be true, because our Lord would not teach us a falsehood, would He?

No, He would not do that!