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Forgiveness. It is something that I have been withholding for a long time, but no more. It it time to let go, and forgive. And really, forgiveness is so important. How do we know that? Well, in the model pray, (some know it as the Lord's prayer, or the Our Father,) Jesus mentions forgiveness.
14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;+ 15 whereas if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.+
If you read the entire model prayer, you will find that this is the only part of the prayer that Jesus explained. Yep, he commanded us to forgive, then he explained why we should. We must forgive, or Our heavenly father will not not forgive us. Heavy, yeah?
The reason I bring this up, forgiveness, is because I recently received some spiritual and scriptural counsel, from our Traveling Overseer, Brother David Valouchi. Counsel that I shared with you beautiful readers but didn't apply it to myself. Oh yes, I was withholding forgiveness. But who was I withholding forgiveness from? I was withholding it from myself. I was kicking myself for being a terrible mom, a terrible daughter, a terrible wife, and it was reflected in some of my blogs, a kind of negativity. But, that is not who I want to be.
The following is found in my blog: The Drip... Drip... Drip... of Discouragement (Satan's 3 Tactics)
Can you see why Satan the devil would just love for Jehovah's people to dwell on feelings of guilt because of past mistakes? Thus, if problems in the past continue to plague you, be very careful about dwelling on those things. Dwelling on past mistakes that have already been handled is a little silly, it's a lot needless, and can become very dangerous for us if we're not careful.
For example, when driving your automobile, do you ever take a quick look in the rear-view mirror? Do you ever do that? Sure you do. A quick glance in the rear-view mirror allows you to see what's behind you, where you've come from, and there's wisdom in that. But let me ask you, would you ever dream of driving your car by solely looking in the rear-view mirror? You would never do that, would you? Why? Because that's needless and would become very dangerous. So today, if feelings come up in the heart that remind you of the past, its OK to take a quick glance in the rear-view mirror, remind yourself of where you've been, how far you've come, but then, the encouragement we would give you: get your eyes back on the roadway. See, Jehovah God did not intend, and he has never advised, his people to drive through life looking in the rear-view mirror. Instead, he has encouraged us to look ahead towards perfection, towards our beautiful hope. Thus, don't drive through life looking in the rear-view mirror. Remember, Jehovah hasn't asked us to do it. That's not his desire.
So as you can see from this beautiful illustration, dwelling on the past is not something we should do. I have done that long enough. I want to look forward. I want to be able to experience the peace and unity and love that Jehovah offers his people. I do not want to dwell on the past, stirring up bad feeling and negative emotions. Look, we have so much to look FORWARD to.
Recently, I have been painstakingly writing a blog about my memories from the first 18 years of my life, and there are some not-so-pleasant memories, and I can tell you this, it was quite stressful to rehash all of that. I am still unsure if I will post it, but oh, I felt drained after putting my thoughts and memories down. I remember reflecting that dwelling on these bad memories had affected my emotions, and I could feel that it had affected my physical well being as well. Fits in kind of well with the above mentions spiritual advice of not dwelling on the past, and it fits in well with the first article in the AWAKE! NO. 2 2016, COVER SUBJECT Is the Bible Just a Good Book? the second to last box:
A BOOK THAT PROMOTES MENTAL HEALTH
The Bible encourages us to cultivate qualities that foster good mental health, qualities such as compassion and forgiveness. “Become kind to one another, tenderly compassionate, freely forgiving one another,” says Ephesians 4:32.
According to a publication of the Mayo Clinic, in the United States, “if you don’t practice forgiveness, you might be the one who pays most dearly.” Forgiveness, the article explains, can result in “healthier relationships; greater spiritual and psychological well-being; less anxiety, stress, and hostility; lower blood pressure; fewer symptoms of depression; and lower risk of alcohol and substance abuse.”
And if I may, I'd like to borrow a quote from the King of Pop, Michael Jackson's 'Man In the mirror,'
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If I want to promote good mental health for myself, I need to work more on cultivating qualities that foster it, like compassion and forgiveness. (Hey, there's that word again.) The quote from the Mayo Clinic really got my attention. I do feel that my not forgiving myself has caused me to pay most dearly. I want healthier relationships, less anxiety, less stress, so I need to forgive myself for all the things I have been kicking myself about, and look FORWARD. Hey, we don't live in the past, it's BEHIND us. I am going to look out the windshield, not the rear view mirror.
The following is supplemental information:
2 comments:
Does JWorg teach JWs to "forgive" JWs who disagree with some of its ever-changing teachings? Or, does JWorg teach JWs to shun other JWs who disagree with some of its teachings, thereby making forgiveness a group thing instead of, as the prayer states, that our Father forgive us (individuals), as we forgive others?
@William Enoch. I have published: 'Disagreeing vs Disobedience' blog in response to your question. I hope I was able to answer it for you, clearly, and understably, from the Bible.
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