James and I have been reading Boyhood and Beyond for a devotional during Bible time. Actually we read it one day a week and work on the catechism the other days.

It’s a really good book and is well written. The stories and points the author makes really hit home and they’re definitely written to interest  boys.

The story we read this week was excellent so I’m going to share it with you.

An old man had a hobby of saving dirty diapers. He saved diapers for over 40 years. If you visited him, he’d show you your dirty diaper from years ago.

He had stacks and piles and bins of dirty diapers. Needless to say he didn’t smell so great and most people didn’t want to spend time with him.

They didn’t enjoy his smell but they also didn’t enjoy having their old dirty diapers constantly put in their faces.

Most people avoided him as much as possible, but if he cornered them, he’d share some dirty diapers.

(As you can imagine, James thought this was disgusting but he did laugh a bit.)

The author turned it around and pointed out that when we don’t forgive, we’re like that old man. We take the dirty diaper of what someone did to us and put it in their face.

Years later, we dig around and pull it out and make sure they see what they did. Even though it was so long ago and most likely isn’t something they do anymore.

People who don’t forgive aren’t pleasant to be around either are they? We tend to avoid them so we don’t have to listen to a “dirty diaper” show.

James and I both decided we won’t be “dirty diaper collectors”. Are you one?

Filed under: Forgiveness, From God's Word | 2 Thoughts Shared »