July 15, 2018
Doing the Dailies-
This Summer as you Come to His Table, choose to…
Dump the Bucket
“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the LORD forgave you, so you must forgive others”. Colossians 3:13
Some of our heaviest burdens are those we have chosen to carry…
We love watching our grandchildren collect things…treasures. One of our grands finds toys she wants to hide from her siblings; she stuffs them into a bag and carries or drags it around to insure no one takes her stuff, which is often their stuff. She is totally willing to bear the heavy burden in order to protect her treasures.
Our grandson collects rocks, big rocks, and little rocks and carries his bucket all over the yard gathering rocks. When the weight increases, he fusses about it being HEAVY, so HEAVY! His bucket becomes a burden he chooses to carry because he loves what’s inside the bucket, his treasure!
Dump the Bucket
Our grandchildren’s burdens may be heavy, but, they are harmless. Years ago, I collected some things which I considered to be treasures… Willow Tree angels, then, post grand-children, butterfly items and sunflowers. Unfortunately, I have also chosen to collect some things which are not harmless. At times, I became a collector of the offenses tossed at me in normal everyday life. The offense would land at my feet: an unkind comment, an accusation, a difference of opinion, an unjust act toward me, or an unfilled expectation by someone close to me… And instead of leaving it there and walking away, I would lean down, and pick it up, and put it in my bucket, treating it like a treasure. By continuing to pick them up, I managed to create heavy burdens, dragging them around on my shoulder or across my back, refusing to set them down. And, I became a collector of offenses…
Collecting offenses is divisive, addictive, and burdensome. When we collect offenses and hold on to them, we build walls which separate us from our relationships. When we collect offenses, we become offensive to others because of bitterness which roots into our hearts…robbing us of time, energy, and focus, away from the blessings of life, causing us to focus on the burden we have chosen to bear, and the burden becomes heavier and heavier…stealing and siphoning the joy from our lives…unless we make the choice to Dump the Bucket.
Choose Forgiveness
There were a number of years in which unforgiveness poisoned my childhood home. Tragically, my parents chose to collect offenses toward one another and for years dragged heavy-heavy buckets around with them. I know that each one of us has experienced unforgiveness and the costly price it evokes. Unforgiveness is devastating, heavy and destructive. When we make the choice to intentionally and purposefully Dump the Bucket of offenses we have collected, and when we choose to forgive, we are set free from the heavy burden.
The choice to forgive does not approve of or justify a misdeed against you, rather, it releases the heavy burden from your shoulder and permits your heart to release anger, hurt, and bitterness and begins the steps of healing. And when forgiveness seems impossible, we must remember that our Heavenly Father never instructs us to do something He has not done before…He will always empower and equip His children. You see, He knows and understands the price of forgiveness…He knows and understands the freedom found in obedience to His Word.
“Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the LORD forgave you, so you must forgive others”. Colossians 3:13
This summer, as you make your way to His Table, as you Do the Dailies, Dump the Bucket which holds any offense you might have collected…When you forgive, you wipe the slate clean…you discard the heavy burden you were never designed to carry.
And, then, remember those offenses you have committed toward others and toward your Father…go ahead, confess those to Him-He already knows…He waits for you to agree with Him and for you to Come to His Table and experience His forgiveness-so graciously poured out for us through the life, the death, and the blood of His son, Jesus… Our sins nailed to the cross…forgiven-once and for all. How can we do less…He invites us, and instructs us to Dump the Bucket! And, as you do, I am certain that you will experience the daily blessings of summer with your loved ones, and with your Loving Father!
Love you in Jesus,
P.S. My parents were finally able to Dump their Buckets before my father went to Heaven. Although I still regret the years they were burdened unnecessarily by unforgiveness, they both lived to experience the freedom and the joy of forgiveness…of choosing to throw away the offenses they had collected during their forty-two year marriage. Although chronic illness burdened them both, their loads were so much lighter…still heavy, but as the walls they had built, came down, their relationship with one another was restored, and with their Heavenly Father, who had been there all along. But, the walls had been so high, they could not see.
My friends, you may be carrying a very heavy bucket of offenses you have chosen to pick up, or offenses you have committed; you may have a hurting relationship, plagued by years of unforgiveness…Please know that it is never too late to Dump the Bucket…Today is the perfect day to Come to His Table!
