What's in your Luggage!

It was about me I thought,
When you said the words that hurt that broke my heart.
It was about me when I held on to the pain your actions caused,
I will not let go I have to keep holding on.
It was about me when I decided not to let go
But to carry around the hurt and pain I felt inside.
I’ve been everywhere with it because I can’t let go.
Now I realised that I too had hurt someone long ago
And keep on hurting him if I don’t let go of my selfish pain.
I had to give you the gift I received over 2000 years ago before I was born.
For I’ve come to realise it’s not about me,
But about a love that forgave me in spite of my wrongs.

© Deboo November 2008

Today was café church at a local church I sometimes fellowship with. I am always blessed by the informal worship arrangements and have decided to worship with them every now and again.

Café church means just that; over coffee, teas, biscuit and fruits we sit in groups and discuss a topic which challenges us as Christians to think. It is more like a bible study, but the difference is it’s not on a weekday and there is very little bible reading, although the theme is always from the bible, and there is a chance for us to mixed up and fellowship!

Today’s theme was Luggage! What are you carrying around?
The focus was on forgiveness. A short video was played which really drove home the point.

This got me thinking: What really are we carrying around? What’s eating us up?
Forgiveness is not easy. It is one of the most difficult things in the world. Try telling someone who’s been raped to forgive their attacker, or an abused spouse to forgive their partner or a friend who feels betrayed to forgive their best friend.

Forgiveness does not come cheap, it is costly, and it will cost you your pride, because really, pride amongst other things is what makes forgiving others difficult. It will force us to act contrary to our human nature, because the natural thing is to want to get even.

Even when we pay lip services to forgive those who have wronged us, in truth we haven’t.
You may think you’ve forgiven someone until they show up years later and resurrect a whole cane of worms.

Have you been there? Hurt by someone dear? And you feel like sticking the knife in and make them pay? As the saying goes
“Revenge is a meal best severed cold”
Revenge should not be on the cards at all, it is saying to God I don’t trust you to deal with this situation so I’m going to handle it my way because I can do a better job!

As I watched that video it dawn on me that no matter how hard we try, people will hurt us. Like a dog that goes back to its vomit some times the same people will keep hurting us:
What should you do in those circumstances, stick around and continue to be hurt? No forgive and walk away.

Unforgiveness is a luggage that eats at us slowly.

We carry around anger, hurt, pain, rage, bitterness that keeps us chained to the past.

Let go, set yourself free and just as the bible says forgive those who wrong you, pray for those who despitefully use you.

In conclusion today we were given an onion bud to plan as a way of letting go.
The goal was to go back home and do a soul searching, let go of anyone who may have hurt us. And pray that good will come to them. When you do that without feeling the pain, you will have come into a new beginning, as we bury the bud, we are burying hurt, rage, anger e.t.c. and as it flourishes we flourish into newness of life and experience freedom that comes with forgiving others!

Relevant bible passages:
Mathew: 6:12
Mark: 11:25


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