Mom Heart Moments #355 - Mom Heart Moments

Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. So you will find favor and good repute in the sight of God and man.

CHARLES DICKENS WAS a master storyteller who described people in such a way that all of us readers feel we know his characters in real life. One of the most memorable characters, of course, is Ebenezer Scrooge. He looked at life through a lens of bitterness, criticism, and condescension, and he brought negativity everywhere he went. As the story of A Christmas Carol unfolds, we observe Scrooge seeing his life as if for the first time, shocked by just how dark his influence has been. Finally, he longs for redemption, and of course finds it, turning to become lifegiving, charitable, generous, and kind to all he comes in contact with.

Perhaps all of us have Scrooges in our lives. I wish mean-hearted, critical people would suddenly repent of hateful ways and become transformed on a more regular basis. Lately, I have realized that so many women I know have deep wounds of insecurity caused by others’ criticism, hatefulness, and anger.

I have had to work through similar wounds in my own life. If I had chosen to hold on to destructive attitudes, like Scrooge did, I would leave a legacy like the one he left before his repentance: people being afraid to be in my presence, avoiding me, not trusting me, and talking about me behind my back.

But by accepting God’s love and choosing not to live in bitterness or dwell in judgment myself, He turns things around, causing my own heart to heal. This allows me to be much more compassionate and sympathetic toward others who need to feel the same love and comfort in their own lives.

What’s tied around your neck? Kindness and truth? Or bitterness, insecurities, and the residue of your own past hurts? Lay them down today, and ask the Lord to help you make as miraculous a turnaround as Scrooge.