Re-Spect

The ever so wise Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."
Jesus said, "Love your enemies."

but what do we do? we point fingers, we relieve ourselves of the pain of humility and love and instead justify our escape through the easy way out by pointing out the mistakes in others; by belittling them in every way possible. Pathetic, right?

No matter the amount of relief we feel after pouring out our bitterness to a person who may have done directly to us or someone close to us wrong, we actually create more for ourselves. The devil's trick is to make us forget our sinfulness by hardening our hearts. He creates the illusion that somehow our pride truly does make us the better person; the more and more hate you nurture in your heart, the more favor you do for the devil. It's scary, and I hate the thought of that (and I hope you do, too)...but this just shows how selfish we can be; we begin to put ourselves above everyone else...including God.

It's sad that we are aware of what we do. It's even sadder that we create this hate in others, too. But what hits the hardest is when we don't even care - when we can't admit to ourselves our very own mistakes. It's like we forget who we are. One little mistake of others done against us and we act as if we have never committed sin. Pride is a deadly sin and it will kill you, if you don't feel it now, you will. Don't wait for tomorrow to forgive yourself and others because it is your forgiveness from God that you ultimately need. Everybody can hate you for the rest of your life, but just know that in the end it is only between you and God.

It hurts. It hurts to put your pride aside and look like the fool after all that you've said and felt. It hurts to know that your love isn't being returned, that your respect is not mutually shared. It hurts to be rejected after giving up so much for the other. It hurts...but it frees you.

We must stop watering the seeds of our insecurities, problems, and pride for we are mere reflections of the contents of our hearts. if these are what fills us, consequently, we become the insecure, problematic, proud disappointment not only in the eyes of man but also in the eyes of God.

"In God I trust; I shall not fear." We speak too much in vain. We don't know the weight of the words we offer up to God. The emptiness grows as we grow more and more with hate in our hearts. I pray that we all wake up in awareness one morning and realize our dire need for God's grace in order to grow and live in holiness. I'm praying for all of us. For God doesn't ask for sacrifice or holocausts, but rather our hearts. How is yours?