Saturday, April 7, 2012

F is for Forgiveness

Many Easters ago our church sponsored an Easter egg hunt.  The children were all so excited; they could hardly wait for the service to end so they could fill their baskets with plastic eggs filled with candy.  We even had some visitors who had two adorable little girls who were ready to join in the fun.  The mom had purchased new dresses for the occasion.

Somehow, when no one was looking, some of the older kids decided to play a prank on the unsuspecting little ones.  They exchanged the candy in the eggs for stuff they found in the refrigerator... like mayonaise.

It was pretty awful when we realized what had happened.  I don't know if the perpetrators were punished, but needless to say, the new people never came back.  Eventually the families with the wrong doers also left the church.

Fast forward to today.  One of the offenders is back from Afganistan and will be joining my family tomorrow at our Easter service.  And I am so excited to see what the Holy Spirit will do.  I'm praying for miracle.

I want to be clear.  I don't know this young man's heart.  But Jesus does.  Just as he knows mine.  Jesus didn't dole out excuses.  He became the atonement for every sin- big or small.

Forgiveness.



9 comments:

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

I would have a terribly hard time forgiving someone who slipped mayonnaise into my Easter basket instead of chocolate eggs.

A wonderful Easter to you!
xoRobyn

Anonymous said...

I hope everything went well. Happy Easter!

Unknown said...

Mom, I'm so blessed to have you as an example of giving people second chances..and having such an amazing gift of forgiveness. I love you!

Cheryl Klarich said...

Robyn. Yes!! It was really awful. Sometimes life is not pretty! But let me tell you! There was a miracle of forgiveness; and it was so cool- so out of my hands that it HAD to be God.

Hi Susanne! Thank you. God is so brilliant and wonderful- bringing him home from the front lines in Afghanistan for Easter- Co-incidence??

Elsa. I miss you!! I love you with all my heart.

Unknown said...

Forgiveness is always in style, right? And what a better time to demonstrate it than during the season Christ completely forgave us of our sins. Thanks for the reminder that forgiveness is important! God bless!

Tyrean Martinson said...

Happy Easter! I hope all went well . . .forgiveness is an amazing gift.

Cheryl Klarich said...

Hi Maria.
I am so grateful for the gift of forgiveness... I wish I wasn't always in such need of it!

Tyrean. Hello! Thank you so much. Yes!! It went above and beyond what I was hoping for.
Bless you!

Robyn Campbell said...

I totally missed this. Excellent, Cheryl! If not for forgiveness I would be in deep trouble. This is very sad about the family leaving the church. I hope the young man is saved. Yeshua came for us all. Love this post.

Cheryl Klarich said...

Robyn! You are such an awesome friend.
Thanks the affirmation.

He was eager to have us pray for him and towards the end of the day his "soldier's edges" had really softened.

It seems like God is taking him down a Pilgrim's Progress kind of path.