Mommy Get the Hammer There's a Fly on Daddys Head

Our friend Gary joined us for the Free Store conversation on Thursday morning and talked about forgiveness.  He said that one of the hardest things that we have to do in life is to forgive others when they hurt us in some way.  He told us that although it is natural to react with anger and bitterness when someone hurts us that it's not always best because that often results in violence.

We talked about how wars are often fought between people that just can't forgive each other.  In a world dominated by the principle of an eye for an eye there can be no real peace.  Gary said that Jesus statement about forgiving our enemies is the only real solution to end violence and establish peace.

Gary told us that to forgive means literally to let something go.  He said that we can't do this on our own because it is really a supernatural thing.  He went on to explain that when Jesus said to forgive each other 77 times he was basically saying that we should never stop forgiving.

At this point Gary got up and took a pitcher filled with water and started pouring it into a glass.  As we continued to talk about forgiveness Gary kept pouring and pouring and pouring water from the pitcher until the glass overflowed into the baking pan it was sitting in.  As the pouring continued for what seemed like an unnatural amount of time George said, "It just goes on and on" which made us laugh.  Someone joked that we had David Copperfield in the house.  As Gary kept pouring the water from the pitcher into the glass he told us that God's love and forgiveness just never quits.  After a bit of pressure from the group Gary showed us that the trick was in the design of the pitcher itself which we all found very entertaining.

As we talked about forgiveness someone said that it reminded him of the title of a book he had seen with the title, "Mommy Get the Hammer There's a Fly on Daddy's Head" which made us laugh.  He said that we can really hammer other people as well as ourselves for certain things that we don't like.  He also said that we should put down the hammer because there is enough blood and pain in the world.

The question was asked about what things we can do to help us become more forgiving.  Gary said that we should just start to verbalize the forgiveness even though we don't feel like it.  He also said that sometimes he will give a little gift to someone that he needs to forgive without saying that is the reason for the gift.  We talked about how we don't have to wait for an apology before we forgive someone because forgiveness helps us whether the other person wants it or not.

As the conversation moved to a conclusion one of our friends said, "You have to pray about it to forgive."  She also asked the penetrating question, "How can you love God when you ain't even willing to forgive your brother?"