Forgive and Forget...#loveproject365

11/365 #loveproject365

I don't like to be fooled.

I don't like to be lied to or deceived and I would bet most people don't.

But as humans, it happens to us all at some point. In our culture today, it seems that it is easier and even acceptable to stretch the truth a little, keep some details out or just simple keep quiet all together and we aren't actually lying. I have said it many times before, but I one of integrity regardless of what it might cost me. I value honesty and truth and if it hurts, so be it. Just be honest with me.

As a teacher, I get a lot of stories. Stories that stretch the truth and even flat out lie. Sometimes the stories are so believable, I am not sure what is truth anymore. Today, for example, a student came in to contest his B+. As we looked at his grade, I realized he submitted his final project three days late and it didn't even look like he worked an extra three days on it. Actually, it looked more like three hours on a five week project. His explanation? He didn't know where to submit it. Hmmm....I have 38 students in the class, and 37 knew where to submit it. Lie? Maybe? Maybe he just was too afraid to ask someone, knowing it was so late. Who knows? This is a minor offense, but a lie nonetheless. Unfortunately, I have a hard time letting it go for the next time he comes in with a story.

I am sure you could think of a few stories of your own to share where someone has told you a story that just didn't seem right, only to find out later, it was a flat out lie. I don't know why people are so afraid of the truth, but they are. Knowing this about others, I have become quite skeptical of pretty much everyone and everything. Over the course of several years, I have a hard time trusting anyone, in fear that what I think is true is a lie. That some day down the road, it will hurt me. With this attitude, love is hard to find.

But then, I look at Jesus and I think about Judas. Talk about the ultimate lie! He sold him down the river to be crucified. AND they were friends! But guess what? Jesus forgave him and let it go. If only I had a little bit of that Jesus in me to forgive so easily and then forget. As I work through this year, trying to love more freely, I am reminded again that I have to be willing to let go. Let go of the little lies and the big ones. To love no matter what. To be like Jesus, is to forgive, so you can forget. To give that young man who came in desperate to save his grade, a little forgiveness, so next time, I can be open to his next story.

"it (love) is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs."

1 Corinthians 13:5