THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - FORGIVENESS

"You can forgive someone almost anything. But you cannot tolerate everything... We don't have to tolerate what people do just because we forgive them for doing it. Forgiving heals us personally. To tolerate everything only hurts us all in the long run."


Lewis B. Smedes

FORGIVENESS IS HEALING

Yesterday, the healing power of forgiveness was all upon me. I reconciled with the people who hurt and wronged me.

It is not worth to live our lives harboring ill feelings for others and waiting for the time to revenge upon someone that has done us wrong. This is a dead end way of living life. Most of the time it costs more time and effort to avenge a wrongdoing than to simply forget. It is a painful process. It takes time and effort to practice forgiveness, as it does not happen overnight, and it will take humility to recognize and acknowledge angry feelings. But if we ask our heavenly Father for a gift of forgiveness, He will surely help us. Hatred retards our spiritual development and growth.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY - FORGIVENESS

"Don't think about
the people that hurt you,
Think about the people that you hurt".

KEEP A HAPPY HOME!

Do you show appreciation for the work of your wife, or husband? For the help of your children, or brothers and sisters? For the sacrifices that your parents have made for you? For it’s only when you learn to appreciate things, big or small, that you realize you have the capacity to express positive emotions and keep a happy aura around you.

Are you loving or selfish? Are you cross and irritable or patient and forgiving? Are you dictatorial, or do you listen to the opinions of others? Are you respectful and obedient to your parents, or willful and disobedient? It is easy to act like good, but what kind of person are you at home? If you want to have a happy home, humbly acknowledge your failings and do your best to overcome them. If you have the guts, the discipline, and the willingness to do your part, you will definitely succeed.

Are you helpful and obliging? or lazy? Do you gladly cooperate with others without criticizing and complaining? Do you become discourage easily, or are you cheerful when things go wrong? Do others find it easy to live with you? Do not be discouraged if you have a hard time controlling your temper or some other disagreeable trait in your character. The effort that you are making to overcome it is a testimony of your great capacity to love, which will help you grow spiritually.

Do you Ask forgiveness for your wrongs? It isn’t easy to say, “I’m sorry that I spoke sharply to you. Please forgive me,” but it’s a good way to get rid of hard feelings and keep your home happy. Do you have a bad disposition? Acknowledging your fault and asking your loved ones to pray for you is a long step toward victory over it. He taught us to ask forgiveness of those that we have wronged. If we aren’t willing to do this, it will stand in the way of your fellowship with Him.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FOR THOSE OVER 40 YEARS OLD!

Pareng Tony Lim, many thanks for sharing this to me.... but I'm not even forty yet .... uggghhh!!!

1. Focus on enjoying people, not on indulging in or accumulating material things.

2. Plan to spend whatever you have saved. You deserve to enjoy it and the few healthy years you have left. Travel if you can afford it. Don't leave anything for your children or loved ones to quarrel about. By leaving anything, you may even cause more trouble when you are gone.

3. Live in the here and now, not in the yesterdays and tomorrows. It is only today that you can handle. Yesterday is gone, tomorrow may not even happen.

4. Enjoy your grandchildren (if you are blessed with any) but don't be their full time baby sitter. You have no moral obligation to take care of them. Don't have any guilt about refusing to baby-sit anyone's kids, including your own grandkids. Your parental obligation is to your children. After you have raised them into responsible adults, your duties of child rearing and babysitting are finished. Let your children raise their own offspring.

5. Accept physical weakness, sickness and other physical pains. It is a part of the aging process. Enjoy whatever your health can allow.

6. Enjoy what you are and what you have right now. Stop working hard for what you do not have. If you do not have them, it's probably too late.

7. Just enjoy your life with your spouse, children, grandchildren and friends. People, who truly love you, love you for yourself, not for what you have. Anyone who loves you for what you have will just give you misery.

8. Forgive and accept forgiveness. Forgive yourself and others. Enjoy peace of mind and peace of soul.

9. Befriend death. It's a natural part of the life cycle. Don't be afraid of it. Death is the beginning of a new and better life. So, prepare yourself not for death but for a new life with the Almighty.

10. Be at peace with your Creator ... For ... He is all you have after you leave this life.