W11 3.31.21
It’s APRIL FOOLS
DAY tomorrow,
and I thought I’d share a chapter from the HOLIDAY SECTION in my first book:
BEING AN APRIL FOOL
We all act like fools
sometimes and embarrassingly childish. We make mistakes and do dumb things and
wonder why we don’t seem to have it all together more often. But what makes me
smile is that it’s very kid-like, and just because we may be older, it doesn’t
always mean we are so mature and have
to always be so serious and so driven and so together all the time. The truth is, we’re not. We actually are
“April Fools” sometimes and do foolish things. But more foolish than doing stupid things is dwelling on them.
This past week when some
of my family was visiting, we were in a whirlwind of activities—entertainment
galore. I wanted everyone to really have a totally great time and do everything
they wanted to do to have fun in Vegas. I got so wrapped up in trying to make
sure that everyone else was having a great time that I
forgot to get my daily fill of the Word of God. The Word of God is so much a
part of who I really am that without getting my daily fill, I was getting
parched. The water I drank yesterday can only keep me going so long, and then I
need more. Well, I didn’t get into the Word of God for several days, and I
literally ended up losing my voice, getting laryngitis!
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 have to forgive
ourselves and laugh at ourselves once in a while. 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, 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
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 an amazingly great thing!
Every day is not April
Fools’ Day, but a new day, thank God! We realize we’re going to act foolish
sometimes. We try not to, but besides having a spiritual side, we’re also
human. There’s never going to be a day in this life on earth when we’ve finally
made perfection in absolutely everything. So we need to smile, pick ourselves
up and keep living for God the best we can, one day at a time.
Love, Carolyn
QUESTIONS FOR PONDERING OR
DISCUSSION (April Fools)
Are there still mistakes,
errors, and wrong judgments from your past that you tend to dwell on? What can
you do to free yourself from guilt over these?
Can you think of examples
of forgiving yourself?
When was a time that you
felt “parched” spiritually? How did you rectify it?
FOR FURTHER STUDY
2 Samuel 24:10
Job 5:3
Psalm 42:1
Psalm 63:1-3
Psalm 69:5-6
Psalm 85:2
Isaiah 43:18-19
Jeremiah 31:34
Matthew 6:34
Matthew 22:39
Luke 6:37
Romans 8:1
Ephesians 4:32
Philippians 3:13
This chapter is from WINGS:
A JOURNEY IN FAITH VOLUME 1
No comments:
Post a Comment