Seasons of Change

As a Toastmaster, you are taught that there are three speeches that take place every time you speak. 1.) The speech you wrote, 2.) The speech you give, and 3.) The speech the listeners heard. The first two are rather obvious, but the speech given and the speech that was heard should be about the same, shouldn't they?

Yesterday, I mentioned that I went to church a couple of times on Sunday. I would think that after sitting through basically an hour's worth of talking, I would have a lot of information that I could repeat. That is hardly the case! In fact, without looking at my notes, there is only about one sentence that remains with me from each sermon. Sad, but true!

Pastor John mentioned that he encouraged people to repent in his Christmas cards one year. He said it wasn't the best received Christmas cards he'd ever sent. (Hmmm…)

Pastor Episcopo said that God is able to forgive us even when we are struggling to forgive ourselves.

Interestingly enough, in both cases the sentences were not the main point of the sermon…more like a passing sentence that stood out to me. However, they are little like little gold nuggets that encouraged me to think and reflect.

Why is it that so many of us struggle with repentance and forgiving ourselves? I think that most people (if not all) have an innate sense of right and wrong. We ultimately respect our Heavenly Father so much that we feel that guilt and shame. Whether or not we choose to acknowledge and accept that may be a completely different story.

For me, it isn't the repentance that I struggle with. I struggle with forgiving myself of my wrongs. Other people can make their mistakes and it seems as though it isn't long before it is water under the bridge. But to forgive myself? Oofda!

How do I work to get better? First and foremost, I need to remember that I am created in the image of God. He loves me with all of His heart and wants the best for me. I need to spend time with Him and in the Bible.

If you are looking for a great passage to encourage you along these lines, try Psalm 103. If you don't have a Bible handy and want to read on the computer, www.biblegateway.com is a fantastic reference. There, you can enter the text you are looking for and choose to read in whatever Bible translation you prefer.

My point today? Choose your words carefully. You never know what someone is going to take away with them. And more importantly, we are living in a time of grace. As we remember Jesus' birth, we can remember the reason He was born. That was ultimately to die for our sins. If God can love us that much, we can certainly feel free to draw near to Him, accept His love and grace, and learn to forgive ourselves as we grow in Christ.