Backyard

Sunday morning I got to catch Rev.Price do his sermon,most Sundays I forget or tune in to late.He always has some interesting topics and most of the time when I start watching him I just can't seem to change the channel
Sunday he was talking about forgiveness.
Seems when he was a child he climbed a neighbors fence and while walking through the yard a dog came out and bit him.He jumped the fence and ran home.He said he learned a very valuable lesson,he didn't call the cops or sue the guy he just never went back in that persons yard again.
He said forgiveness is the same way,you may not be able to change the person you've forgiven but you need to stay out of his yard.
Forgiveness he said is making it clear in your mind that you will forgive and not listen to your feeling.Feelings,he said, come and go like the wind and how you feel one minute is not how you will feel the next.
So determine that you will forgive then stay out of their backyard especially if they are unchanging in behavior.If they are not a nice person you will be dragged down into their issues and demons.
This is very interesting to me In my mind I have always thought if you forgive someone you needed to also feel good about them and work toward helping them but I think this Reverend has a valid point.forgiveness does not equal being stupid or walked all over,it means doing no malice toward that person.
So the next time you have determined to forgive someone but feel that they are not the type of person you need to be near at this present time,then resolve to stay out of their yard until they tie their dog up.Then maybe you can start by talking over the fence until its safe enough to join them in their yard.