the Way...the Truth..the LIFE!

 

Two people I know died suddenly within a 24 hour period this past weekend. One was an older gal whose mother and beloved dog died within months of each other last year. She had health issues of her own and other than a sister, also in very poor health who lived three hours away, she now had no one, except for a few neighbors, who came to check on her. At age 72, she was ready to "go home."

The other was a veteran of a war we had no business being involved in. Coming home with issues all too familiar with veterans, he tried drowning his pain in alcohol. Parakeets became a hobby of his, yet even they couldn't offer him the escape he needed.

What is sad about both of these passings is how the gossip mill sprang alive and ready to devour these two souls. The quiet, yet rushed whispers disgusted me. Of the older gal, someone I know who did absolutely nothing for her in the last ten years of her life was the most vicious with her rude comments. All I could do was close my eyes in sorrow. "Really? Because you're so perfect, you can now cast stones? God help us!"

In Jesus' day, when He heard of one who'd died, He made it His mission to respond. "Your sins are forgiven you!" There were no questions, there was no, "well, I TOLD you so!" admonishments. There was only love. Forgiveness. The Pharisees of His time provided their own brand of gossip. "Who is this man that He forgives another of their sins? Blasphemer!" I wonder now, what went though Jesus' mind as He absorbed those words? When hearing of Lazarus' death, two words stood out: "Jesus wept." And yet, after all he'd been through, after all THEY put Him through, there he was, hanging on a cross. He looked heavenward, saying, "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do!"

And so it is with me, as I listen to the gossip, the innuendos. Good grief, who among us is perfect? Who among us hasn't drowned our sorrows and fears in drink and drugs? Who among us hasn't stood on the precipice of hell, looked down and decided that with the losses suffered in life, that option may very well be the final--and best-- one?

I know...I have been there. And I have been judged and judged unfairly.

I am at an age now where I have decided to not allow other people's negative thoughts of me get me down. Yet to hear those same negative thoughts of others DOES rankle my emotions. 
"What is your station in life, that you judge me unworthy of you?"

"Lord...I am not worthy to receive you, only...say the word...and I shall be healed!"

True contrition right there.

May you have a blessed day!