I once had a dream.
Imagine the illustration and colors of an old Bible story book.
Center on the page under a multi- color striped tent awning an obviously overfed prideful man strolls surveying his seaside retreat. He sports such a look of complete mastery on such a beautiful sunny day. Looking a little closer at the picture I notice an emaciated boy with sunken eyes, huddled near the tent peg at the corner of this seaside paradise.My heart goes out to this slave boy and I realize the fat man is not a good man. And I turn the page.
A closer picture reveals the boy is tethered by a rope to the fat man. Funny thing about the rope, though, is that it isn’t as thick as expected. Perhaps a sharp rock could sever it? I estimate the chord at about the thickness of a clothesline. The boy paid the thin coiled rope no mind. He was to emaciated to deal with it. He stared out into space. I too am resigned that this little boy will live his story as a slave and this powerful slave master will live out his story in ease. I certainly didn’t expect what happened next.
Unexpectedly, a monstrous crocodile leaps and lunges out of the water swallowing the fat man whole from head to toe! Violently the monster dives back into the river with his prey. But wait! The fat man’s rope is still tethered to the slave boy! The multiple coils of slack are swallowed up, there are only a few seconds left to act! Cut the cord! In my heart I’m yelling to the endangered boy!
The dream ends.
I had been processing forgiveness hard during this time. One obstacle to forgiving my “fat man” was the belief that forgiveness meant no accountability for the offender. To extend that seemed such a betrayal. I couldn’t go there. The pain of our enslavement was ever present. To forgive seemed to me to be ignoring the wrong. I could not see it any other way.
This gave me a different perspective, a spiritual ties perspective. If I cut the chord to the offender with the sharp edge of forgiveness, those demons lose their connection to me. Meanwhile the offender has still made a deal with the devil.
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