These were a gift from my daughters, Christina and Kim, over 40 years ago!
I have forever been intrigued by lambs. They are docile and are crowd followers. They are submissive and easily led. They do not utter a sound when they lose their warm wool coats while being sheared or even when they lose their lives! What they give is for the benefit of the lives of those who took it from them!
Sheep are instructors of one of the most valuable character qualities known to mankind. Without it, we find ourselves adrift and separated from both God and man. Without it, we become angry and bitter. The fruit of its absence is unresolved relationships and needless stress. Our children watch and adopt the same negative response to life’s situations, with the same harmful results! “Parents, so often, are the persons wondering why the streams are bitter, when they themselves have poisoned the fountain.” John Locke
I was recently talking to a young married woman in ministry, who assured me that she knew the problem she had with this other person was her problem, but she could not do what is required of her to resolve the conflict in her heart and re-establish her relationship with God.
Are you wondering what invaluable character quality we are talking about?
“It is nobler to forgive. ‘Love your enemies…bless them that curse you…
do good to them that hate you…pray for them that use you ill’…
these are the commands of the blessed Savior of men.” Noah Webster
When asking forgiveness from God, He tells us to go to the offended brother first and make things right…and then come to the altar. Matt. 6: 24 Forgiveness is when we release our offenders from angry and resentful reactions and instead look for ways to benefit their lives.
We always have the choice. We can blame and poison the fountain, where those following us drink! Who is more important in God’s eyes? Can God forgive us, if we refuse to forgive others? Of course not!! Eph. 4: 32 What entitlement do we have that would keep us from forgiving, as we have been forgiven? Mark 11: 25 “He who cannot forgive others breaks the bridge over which he must pass himself.” George Herbert
Do you forgive others quickly?
or
Do you blame and allow your anger to become toxic?
Booker T. Washington said, “I will not permit any man to narrow
and degrade my soul by making me hate him.”
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
