It seems strange to us that we are
weak,
When love from others we do
solemnly seek,
But the powers of acceptance and
rejection are so,
That they make us, definitely, our own distant foe.
We hate it when we can’t find our
way,
Into their hearts – and there to
stay,
So best are we when we bear their
wrong,
When we bear our weakness, then we’re strong!
***
It’s unfair that we seem to be affected by the partiality of
people. As people, we accept some and yet we reject others – even as if we
cannot help it. Yet we whistle at the dark far too much when we are actually
destined for higher things; not for ourselves, but for others.
We are, at once, asked and even required, by God, to accept all
persons, notwithstanding their state or status or even their infractions
against us, or any we may love.
What seems a ridiculously tall order is the privilege of life in
the Kingdom of the King of Kings. Once we recognise that God gives us the
capacity to own our love for every single next person, and we see that such
unconditional acceptance is a gift and not a hardship, we have no bitterness
about needing to forgive. It is our fundamental pleasure to forgive, for what
God is already giving back to us.
Casting Off Need for Acceptance Brings Tolerance for
Rejection
What a fabulously paradoxical life: that, in God, we are given not simply the
ability to not need to be accepted, but also the tolerance of understanding and
forgiveness to grapple with rejection. Not one but both tools are given to us.
The heights of divine irony are reached when
we determine it to be an honour to be lambasted again the poles of partiality,
because we have God, and with God, we have all we need.
This is the blessing of unconditional
acceptance. No further effort, nor burden, is experienced. None whatsoever – at
least as it is possible.
When we have God, and we have understood
without complaint that God – alone – is everything, we need nothing of human
partiality: that ‘precious’ if not flattering sense of being favoured without
ever knowing why.
***
Only with God have we the reason to forgive
a person, so their wrong against us won’t affect our acceptance of them. When
we bear our weakness, being truthful about its whereabouts, then we may be
strengthened. Such a strength is required to
be able to forgive.
© 2013 S. J. Wickham.
I am so struggling with this now and also on the receiving end as well. Thanks for words to mediate on.
ReplyDeleteWill be praying for you, Jack.
ReplyDelete