Wisdom for Wednesday

 

Recently I heard this great quote from Jon Acuff:

Forgive your former self; Enjoy your present self; Be kind to your future self

I find these three invitation to be wisdom for this Wednesday and first day of September.  So much of what lives rent-free in our minds comes from the past.  Things we said or did.  Things we didn't say or didn't do.  Something someone else said or did.  Past words and actions can play on an endless loop in our minds.  We wrestle with what could have been or should have been or the "if only" scenarios.  To be sure, I should be accountable and responsible for mistakes.  Yet, most of the time, we hold ourselves so accountable and responsible that even Jesus himself could not clear the bar of perfection we are trying to jump over.  On top of that, many times the things we carry are because we cannot reconcile the relationship with the other person.  Perhaps the other person is no longer in our lives or the woundedness between us has created a chasm and canyon.  Or I often carry around the words of politics so frustrated by the way our leaders are acting.  Or what some other pastor said that I don't believe is being faithful to the way of Jesus.  That brokenness, while it causes my heart to break and soul to ache, isn't going to be resolved any time soon.  No political leaders are texting me.  No pastor of another church is seeking my insights.  I need to forgive so that I am not continually scratching at the scar of hurt on my soul.  Forgiveness is a process ~ each day releasing the way the hurt is controlling my words/actions.  In doing so, I can allow God's grace to have the first, middle, and last word each day in my life.  

Is there something so far this week that you could forgive yourself for?

Second, enjoy your present self.  I can hear your response from here.  Enjoy myself?  Now?  Um, in case you haven't noticed, Wes, there is a pandemic and systemic discrimination and devastation from human made wars as well as hurricanes as well as people refusing to be kind and loving to each other.  Enjoy 2021?  Not exactly easy or popular or practical.  Yet, I think too often the brokenness of the world has left us discouraged and disheartened and even despondent rather than breaking us open.  You see, I can sit back and point out all the ways that others are making errors and all the pain without every acknowledging that I am doing this to make myself feel better.  My own ego loves to be the hero or victim, but never the villain.  Yet, the deeper truth is that beauty and God's love still powerfully exist in this world.  Perhaps God's voice is getting drowned out by our constant commotion of electronics and we never hear God singing in the birds or whispering in the wind.  Creation is God's first testimony and you have soil in your soul.  Get outside to enjoy the world that God says is, "Good" and connects to the goodness/God-ness in us.

How can you enjoy today by slowly down, not gulping/gobbling a meal, or letting the sun warm your skin?

Third, be kind to your future self.  You do this by the decisions you make today.  If you can forgive a past pain, maybe you don't pass it along.  If you can stop, breathe, and be in the moment perhaps you won't say something you regret and need to reconcile.  Ask yourself what your future-five-days-from-now-self might say.  You know that self after your flight/fight/freeze part of your brain finally wears down and your pre-frontal cortex can take the steering wheel.  You don't have to immediately respond to a text.  You don't.  You can wait.  You don't have to instantly compose an email.  You can wait.  You can take a walk outside, breathe, and be.  Or write the response and just don't hit "send" right away.  Be kind to your future self.  

For me, this Wednesday, this is wisdom I want to live my life with...and not just today but every day this week.  Amen.