The other day I went to the movies with a friend and saw a really good one called October Baby. “Finally,” I thought, “a movie where the Christian characters are believable, relatable, and beautifully human!”
The theme of the movie was that healing begins with love and forgiveness.
While we don’t feel like loving the unlovable one, we imagine that we are always lovable. We don’t want to forgive those who have hurt us deeply, yet we want to be forgiven when we hurt others. We delude ourselves into thinking that our anger hurts the offender. But in time, we realize that our anger is like a cancer within us. It prevents us from healing. It prevents us from loving.
There was a line in the movie that I loved: “To be human is to be beautifully flawed.”
Flawed, yet simultaneously beautiful! Christ loves us for who we are and who he made us to be. Beauty is revealed when we realize that each of us was made in the image and likeness of Christ. Our role is to strive to imitate Him in our behavior.
You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! Psalm 139:13-14
Once we understand how completely we are knit to Christ, we are compelled to love and forgive as He did.
This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
Spend some time contemplating whom in your family you should love and forgive. Then put your thoughts into action. Let the healing begin.
Peace, Joy, and Love,
Janet
Love + Forgiveness = Healing. Pass it on.
