Don't you love cut and paste?!
I've been wearing my editor's hat for the last couple of weeks. I love being able to get articles print-ready. Copy. Paste. Arrange whole paragraphs with a click of a mouse. Do overs are so much easier than when I needed to use Wite Out®.
Makes me wish I could edit my life like that too. As much as I would like to erase things I am not proud of, I can't undo what's been done. Once a word is spoken, I can't delete it. It already reached its intended target. I can apologize and I should, but the wound remains. I can be pretty hard on myself when I blow it. It's not easy to feel forgiven. I need to be willing to learn from my mistakes and move on. I may not be able to do-over, but I can start fresh.
One thing that amazes me is God's willingness to white out past wrongs. He says as far as the east is from the west; that's how far he has removed the junk we have done from us. He tosses them into the depths of the sea and remembers them no more. He washes our dark stains so they become as white as snow. Amazing. No one else in the world has that power. No other religious figure reaches down to us, pulls us out of the muck of our own making and gives us a new Spirit.
And, all the junk we did do, he redeems it, makes it count for something. Our pain is turned into power when we are able to help someone else who struggles. Our heart becomes flesh rather than stone and we begin to see things through God's eyes. He takes the broken shards of what was and creates something new and beautiful and whole from them. And through the scars and cracks, His light shines for others to see.
When we come to Christ, we have the chance of a do-over. A new life. A new heart. A new creation. Amazing!
Forgiven,
Jeanne
Psalm 103:12; Isaiah 1:18, 43:25; Jeremiah 31:34; Micah 7:18-19; 2 Corinthians 5:17
