Sometimes you just don’t have anything to say. That is a rarity in my case, but still and all I haven’t had any real inspiration for today’s message.

Maybe that is a message in itself- when you have nothing to say, say nothing.

Often we have to comfort those in pain and don’t really know what to say, so to break that uncomfortable silence we say something. And how many times have you done that and wished you could take back whatever it was you said, the moment the words came out of your mouth? I know that has happened to me.

I once joked around with one of my sister-in-law’s and she was upset with the joking around. I apologized but she was too angry to even care- that was about 6 years ago and she is still angry and won’t talk to me. Not only that, but her sister (my wife, Donna) once slapped her arm forgetting that it had just been operated on. It wasn’t a hard slap, but S-I-L took it as an attack and still isn’t really talking to her- and it’s been nearly 10 years now!  It is so sad that some people are just so unforgiving that they destroy the relationships in their life. She may be mad at us and it does hurt, but not because of what she is doing to us as much as what she is doing to herself.  Donna and I feel, unfortunately, that we aren’t missing anything if that’s the way she wants to be. The only one my S-I-L really hurts by being so hateful and unforgiving is herself.

You can’t fence someone out without fencing yourself in at the same time.

So, nu?  Just now I found a message for us all: Be forgiving and work on strengthening relationships instead of destroying them. Most importantly, remember that God tells us the measuring stick we use on others is the one he will use on us (Matthew 7:2: “ For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”)

That passage should scare the heck out of anyone who believes in God.