An Interesting Question...

i've been realizing something lately...a key distinction, i suppose.

if you've every sinned...haha...or been on the receiving end of someone else's, you know that there are always consequences. those consequences aren't evil necessarily. they're just what happens...what comes naturally as a result of choices. this is often the stuff we hate to admit and/or experience...it reminds us of what happened. if it was our own sin, the consequences can actually make us feel shame. if we were hurt by someone's sin, those consequences can actually remind us of the wound. and if our shame and our wounds aren't healed, every time the consequences arise...we can get trapped in a cycle of pain, unforgiveness and bitterness...and never really get out.

so, i've been experiencing some consequences lately...of my own and of others. in the midst of it, i've felt god asking a different sort of question to me...an interesting surprise. he's been saying, "are you willing to bear the consequences of those situations?"

it strikes me that forgiveness, while truly being a pardoning and a parting from resentment, has another element. it includes agreeing to bear the consequences of a situation, and when those consequences arise, we let them be just that...what naturally happened as a result of sin. they don't need to mean more, and we don't need to let those consequences re-open old wounds and access things that we've let go.

the wonderful thing...if we let consequences not represent more than they are, the moments that do hurt, that do remind us of what happened, become opportunities to share our hearts with god. what's better than that?

so the question on my horizon is whether or not i'm willing to really bear the consequences. regardless of my decision, the consequences don't go away, but my answer and subsequent choices will drastically affect my life in the midst of them.

hmm...