Wow… the first page of the 2021 calendar is now a memory.  How quickly January  vanished. One day at a time, gone. Whatever happened… those events in our control or not, can never be undone.  We can’t turn the calendar back…

There is no redo…

A few weeks ago, I was asked if I would send a short video for a friend celebrating her 70^th birthday. I labored over that request, making sure every word was special, to let her know my heart for our friendship in years past.

Each time I pushed the record button, tears stopped the flow of words. I longed for a redo… a let’s do a part of this relationship over again. We’ve all been here… wanting to  take back words and opinions. Or the unsolicited advice we easily offered.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to know ‘then’ what we know NOW?  If every word, every thought and attitude, every action or reaction were stamped with well done?  How beautiful the world would be if we were born knowing:  “A word aptly spoken is like apples of gold in settings of silver.”  Proverbs 25:11. Or “The tongue that brings healing is a tree of life.” Proverbs 15:4

I plead for a redo…

A pileated woodpecker hammered breakfast from a dead limb near my window this morning.  He attacked the home of those carpenter ants vigorously; he was going to enjoy his labors. It was the debris falling from his strong taps that caused me to question how words and opinions, often spoken in haste, leave hurt behind.  There is no delete button…

How precious is God’s forgiveness… over and over and over. We receive the gift of forgiveness daily, often hourly. So why do memories of our words or actions resurface? I believe this happens in order for us to remember and remember again God’s forgiveness.  Because of this, I… you, can live every day in constant gratefulness for this amazing gift.

And we are to give this same forgiveness to those who hurt us.

“Peter came to Jesus and asked, ‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?’ Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.” Matthew 18:21-22. (Some translations say seventy times seven… wow… that’s 490.) The idea is we cannot keep a record, because we forgive and forgive and forgive—too numerous to count.

This beautiful sunrise yesterday stunned me into a new realization of God’s promise of His love and mercies, new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). The promise of another day speaks, not of a redo—but another chance to do… to be… “Be kind and compassionate to one another. Forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” Ephesians 4:32

What a gift I can give this Valentine’s.