November-A Maiden is Forgiving......

...To Her Siblings:

“What comes out of your mouth is what is in your heart,” goes a popular saying in our household. It is true; what we think in our hearts and minds we sometimes say outloud-sometimes getting us into trouble. There are times when a sibling seems to be antagonizing you; in your flesh, you lash out at him/her in anger and annoyance. This reveals your heart attitude towards your siblings which is: they are bothersome little creatures who seem to only exist to annoy. This heart attitude needs to be swept out of anyone's heart, including mine. When my siblings grumble, whine or are excessively noisy and playful, instead of being gracious and cheerful, I am condemning and annoyed. This attitude is not pleasing to, most importantly, the Lord, and secondly, my parents. When one of my younger siblings throws a temper tantrum, after Mum corrects them and their punishment is over, they are usually still pouting and angry they got punished. Instead of saying mean comments that just set them off again, I should be kind, gentle and smiling towards them, or stay out of their way until they cool off. If the Lord forgave us and forgot our grievous sins towards Him, how much more should we then forgive and forget our younger siblings' faults? Our parents forgive our arrogant hearts and harsh words that we carelessly utter, how much more should we then forgive a child's slip of the tongue and fits of temper? Grace is perfectly free-we did nothing to earn it, we can do nothing to earn more, we do not deserve it nor ever will. Our hearts should seek to love our siblings as the Lord, in His love and mercy, loved us by extending endless fountains of grace upon us. We must extend loving grace to our siblings, whether we feel they deserve it or not. Because no one deserves grace; God gave it to us anyway.