As I sat here this morning - it really was weird - I was thinking it was Tuesday. But yet, I remember seeing Ms. Amy yesterday, and I couldn't do that during the day. And I remember going to church, and yet, is today Tuesday already? Then it dawned on me that it is 'only' Monday. Why did I think it was Tuesday? Is it going to be 'one of those weeks'? I don't think I've done that before - leaving Monday out of the week. Really weird.
And yesterday wasn't so different than a normal Sunday except Ms. Amy's son brought her 'home' for a few hours. That was an odd and awkward situation. Long story short, I did eventually get to go over and visit Ms. Amy for about 20 minutes before he said he had to get her back to the assisted living and I needed to leave. He was like a protective hen... which wasn't necessary. He is an odd one, for sure. He seemed to resent Ms. Amy wanting to see me. Interesting.
I seem to be having trouble writing in here today. What's up with that? I've written several paragraphs, and then stop and erase them. It seems that I have nothing to share.... so let's go to the devotion I read today. It actually was really cool, and made me think.
It is about a former basketball player who made a mistake play, and the team lost the game. He beat himself up over it for awhile; even lost his desire to play, because he had made a mistakes and they lost. A friend told him "You made one bad play in a game filled with good plays. Even great players blow it from time to time. You're good, but last time I checked, you were still human"!
Aren't we glad that in spite of our mistakes, that God doesn't forget we are human. Or as I heard in Jentezen Franklin's message yesterday - we are only dirt.
Psalm 103:12-14 "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust."
Been beating yourself up lately? Maybe you need to cut yourself some slack. Perhaps you had a day recently when you were the worst version of yourself. Maybe you've said or done some things lately that you are not proud of. Maybe you've been wallowing in your shame as we often do we we flub up. Maybe you have been thinking you may as well quit trying, and just give up.
Don't. I know it hurts when you let yourself down, but don't rob yourself of being the person God has created you to be, and you know you can be. So you messed up, and said something you shouldn't have, or did something you shouldn't have. Even the best of us have bad days from time to time. You know I have! No matter how mature we think we are, or even how spiritual we think we are, we are only human, and just made of dust.
Genesis 2:7 (NKJV): "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being."
Let your Father wrap His Arms of Grace around you. Let Him lift you up and dust you off, and help you get going again. He's never given up on you. Don't you give up on yourself either!
Trust me, all the self-torture you can muster won't change that failure that is holding you captive. You can't live backward. You can only live forward. So cut yourself some slack and give yourself a bit of that grace that our Heavenly Father freely gives you and me. It's only when we can let go of yesterday's failures that we are able to give ourselves fully to tomorrow's victories.
Quit hanging on to what you can't change. Start living today in the grace of God.
Blessings!
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