Chapter 26: Managing Muck

How do you like that chapter title? Can’t you just smell the steamy manure in the stall.  This chapter is all about the underbelly of Madeleine’s  heart and soul.  If her’s is like mine, there is a lot of crap hiding down in there.

Madeleine comes face-to-face with the people who have “wronged” her.  And she is confronted by her need to forgive.A friend of mine said that un-forgiveness is the superglue from hell.  What about that for an image?  And I believe that is accurate.  When we fail to forgive someone, the only person we hurt is ourselves.  And that negative attitude prevents us from experiencing God’s forgiveness and goodness in all areas of our lives.Do you feel that you are stuck spiritually?See if you are holding on to a grudge.  Are you judging someone, resenting someone, grumbling about someone?You may be stuck spiritually because you need to forgive that person.

Author’s Tidbit

My character Reverend Mother Marie told Madeleine, “There is no forgiveness without Jesus’ death on the cross.  There is no power to forgive without Jesus’s resurrection from the tomb.  To forgive, we must have the unleashing of his Holy Spirit.” (p. 274)Perhaps you are like me, or at least the way I used to be (God has been changing me.) – I used to be so angry at people that the idea of forgiving them was laughable.  They didn’t deserve forgiveness, so I thought.I thought forgiveness meant forgetting about the injustice.  But I wanted to hold onto the grudge.  Fortunately the Lord and his community of believers  has been teaching me some important lessons: -- If I fail to forgive someone, God will not forgive me.  We say that in the Lord’s Prayer.-- God knows I am not capable of forgiving, so He gives me his Holy Spirit’s power to forgive others.  But I have to ask for it.-- Once the Holy Spirit empowers me to forgive, my feelings do not change immediately.  It takes a while. Even though I have forgiven the person, I am still feeling angry. I have obeyed God. But now I have to wait for my feelings to catch up.  That gap in time – between the act of forgiveness and FEELING that I have forgiven him – becomes a faith test.  -- Fortunately, God does not expect me to forget the injustices.  In fact, He gives all of us, not a spirit of fear, but of love, power and a sound mind.  So I claim a sound mind and God’s wisdom to handle that difficult relationship.In White Heart, Madeleine has conversations about forgiveness.  I hope she illustrates these principles clearly.Blessings,