My family was visiting and we were in a whirlwind of activities—after all this is Las Vegas! I wanted everyone to have the time of their life and do everything they wanted to do. I got so wrapped up in trying to make sure that everyone else was having a great time that I wasn’t having a great time and I wasn’t getting my daily fill of the Word of God.
I began to get down on myself for being so foolishly undisciplined. I shared that with my mom and she told me to not be so hard on myself. When I started to write this, I heard in my spirit, “How long are you going to pout over this? How long are you going to feel bad and beat yourself up over this? Get over it! You’ve got a human part and you’re going to make some mistakes!” I told the Lord I was sorry. He forgave me; I forgave myself too, and then I was okay again.
We all act like “April Fools” sometimes. We make mistakes and do dumb things and wonder why we don’t seem to have it all together more often. But more foolish than doing stupid things, is dwelling on them. We need to get over ourselves! It’s inevitable that we are going to make mistakes. Did you know that we have a relationship with ourselves as well as with others? So if we can forgive someone else (a child for instance) and think about what we’d say to him or her, then we can say it to ourselves too, and be kind to ourselves.
Dwelling on error just makes us more foolish. We need to give ourselves a break. God does. As it’s recorded by John: “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins [say we’re sorry], he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:8-9).
God says, “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Ps 103:12). Think about that for a minute. If we start off going east and just keep going east we will continue going around and around the globe and never get west. That’s how far away, in God’s eyes, He’s put our sins from us.
Hebrews 8:12 records: “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.” So if God doesn’t remember, what business do we have dwelling on past foolishness, sin and error? Paul wrote: “All things are become new” (2 Cor 5:17b). Matthew reminds us to live each day, one day at a time. (See Matt 6:34.) In other words, we don’t drag all our guilty garbage around from day to day. We say we’re sorry, receive forgiveness and move on.
Continuing to feel guilty is foolish when we know we’ve been forgiven. Beating ourselves up over a mistake, error, or wrong judgment, and dwelling on it, is foolish once we know that God not only forgives, but also forgets. That’s such a great thing!
Every day is not April Fools’ Day, but a new day, thank God! We realize we’re going to do dumb things sometimes. We try not to, but besides having a spiritual side, we have a flesh side and we’re not going to do everything perfect in this life. So we need to smile, pick ourselves up, forgive ourselves, and keep living for God the best we can, one day at a time.
Love, Carolyn
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