Over twenty years had passed and yet she was still drinking from the river of bitterness and agony. It is amazing how long one will keep hurting one's self. The mind has the ability to freeze a frame of life for as long as you wish. It is like hitting your finger with a hammer over and over again while wondering who is doing this to you.
Over twenty years ago, a pastor had done something that she thought was wrong. She felt misunderstood. She felt as though she had not been heard. The roller coaster of her memory was on track again. She had to find the pastor and tell him. Maybe that would stop the roller coaster.
It didn't.
The pastor listened to her for a long time. The pastor apologized for what he felt he could apologize. The pastor wished her well. She left the conversation with little or no resolve.
The spiritual problem of having to be right.
Someone has to be wrong and someone has to be right. The only way to resolution is for the wronged to be righted. The issue of reconciliation is far from this. Reconciliation in the faith is not about finding all of those who have been wrong in your life and correcting them--bring them to justice. Reconciliation in the faith is letting go of that within you. If any finding is to be done, it is to find those whom you have wronged and ask for forgiveness.
The river of bitterness flows from within. We like to think it is an outside river flowing in our lives but it is not. It begins in us and has the ability to end within us through the power of God.
Two monks who had taken vows to abstain from any contact with the outer world were on a journey. While on the journey, they passed a river where a woman was drowning. The older monk leaped into the river. He grabbed the woman and brought her to shore. There he gave first aid to her bring her back to life. Then seeing that she was well, continued the journey.
The younger monk was astonished. For miles and miles, he could only picture the elder monk violating his sacred vow. Finally he asked the monk, "What on earth were you thinking? How could you?"
The elder monk looked at him and said, "Why are you holding on to such thoughts? I left the woman alive at the side of the river. My focus now is only on what God would have me do in the road directly in front of me."
The Christian faith has the ability to create a new mind in you--the mind of Christ. Our old human minds have little or no time mechanism. The old mind will convince you that you are right and people are still out to harm you. The mind of Christ tells you differently. You are a new creation. The old has passed. The new is ever before you.
If you have been drinking from the river of pain and bitterness, Jesus has new water to offer to you. Drinking from this water will quench your thirst. You can let go of that which is behind you. Forgive others. Forgive yourself. Live the life ahead of you to the fullest!
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