No need for guilt trips

May 31, 2007 | 3 comments

Have you ever felt guilty for making a mistake?

Have you been made to believe by others that you’re the family “can’t get it right” and deserving of ridicule?

Most of us do something now and then that we wish we’d done differently, but our freedom from the heavy-laden guilt trip is remembering that God loves us no matter what.

God is a forgiving God, and we experience that forgiveness as we rectify our ways and work to improve our thoughts and actions. Others may give us a hard time for our errors, but chances are, they have their own bundle of errors to rectify too. It’s best that we all love and support each other more, rather than condemn and criticize.

I chuckled when I read this story sent to me today:

While on a road trip, an elderly couple stopped at a roadside restaurant for lunch. After finishing their meal, they left the restaurant and resumed their trip.

When leaving, the woman unknowingly left her glasses on the table and she didn’t miss them until they had been driving about twenty minutes.

By then, to add to the aggravation, they had to travel quite a distance before they could find a place to turn around — in order to return to the restaurant to retrieve her glasses.

All the way back, the husband became grouchy and critical of her wife’s oversight.

He fussed and complained and scolded his wife relentlessly during the entire return drive.

The more he chided her — the more agitated he became. He just wouldn’t let up one minute. To her relief, they finally arrived at the restaurant.

As the woman got out of the car and hurried inside to retrieve her glasses, her husband yelled to her, “While you’re in there, can you get my hat and the credit card too?”

Enough said.

We all have room to improve. It’s best we forgive more and criticize less. Everyone will be much happier, and we won’t risk winning the label of being a hypocrite!

3 thoughts on “No need for guilt trips”

  1. Now is the time to simply let go of all the negative energy you,ve been carrying. It does not have to burden you or dain you any longer. Let youself be free, let go of the negativity from the past and it will unleash an enormous amount of positive energy (Love), to move you forward.

  2. Thanks, Evan. I needed that. I have a terrible habit of beating myself up over mistakes that I would forgive quickly and easily in other people. I tend to forget that I am no less a child of God — and no less worthy of forgiveness — than any of the people around me.

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