People Remember

People remember for a long time. This is one thing I've learned about people. If you offend them, they remember. They may remember in a way that will not hurt your friendship. But it's like a marker through a sentence in a book. You may forget it's there. But the instant you open up the book, ta-da there it is.

But how do we get rid of that marker blotch?

Well, how many pages have you marked up? How many times have you asked forgiveness? How big a blotch did you make on the book?

Here's the deal. You have to ask forgiveness. When you ask forgiveness, (and mean it) it's like writing next to that big blotch, the words you markered on with a little love you heart scribbled next to it. So, they'll still see the blotch. (and it will fade with time) But instead of cold and angry memories of you making marks all over their book, they will see the love and repentance you had. It'll become a warm and happy memory, hopefully.

Here's the thing, fights aren't bad. Fights happen. People are sinners. People have to stick their foot in their mouth sometimes. But what happens after them? Do you both go away bitter? Do you make big blotches on books constantly? Or do you make those blotches and follow up with some tears, some writing, and just plain old love?

Now if you tore up the book and put it through a shredder, that will be a lot harder to fix.. :-)