You remember the adage about ivy: the first year it sleeps, the second it creeps, the third it leaps.
What if we could say the same thing about our personal willingness to practice forgiveness?
We choose to embrace life with Jesus in our heart and we are given a beautiful little ivy plant of forgiveness. We come from years of holding grudges but we continue to study Jesus, His heart, His ways and keep noting that He forgives everyone: the adulterous woman, Peter who rejected Him three times, the people who crucified Him.
So in our first year of spiritual investigation with Jesus, the ivy sleeps in our heart. It is not readily available to all who hurt us but we are pondering...
If we keep moving and don't forget our commitment to read and ponder the life of Jesus, calling on Him in prayer and for daily company, our second year might find us offering forgiveness in that tweak of a moment when our hearts could go to Grudge Land or Forgiveness Roost. As we give up our right to be angry at people who have hurt us, the ivy plant creeps into real growth.
In our third year, we have met Jesus and His Story so many times that His way of loving and forgiving people takes over those old pathways to Grudge Land. It becomes as automatic to forgive as it is to breathe. The ivy plant leaps into uncontrollable growth, and our willingness to forgive is so palpable that others notice.
Then maybe, in the moment those watchful others choose to embrace Jesus and are offered a beautiful little ivy plant of their own, they will stick with the journey because our ivy is so established, so vibrant, so healthy.
How is your ivy doing?
