Velcro Words
Have you ever been hurt by someone’s thoughtless words or disappointed by a person’s actions? Here’s how we can keep Velcro in our shorts and shoes and away from our memories . . .
Velcro Words
“There is one whose rash words are like sword thrusts, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.” (Proverbs 12:18)
I saw her from afar, and from the corner of my eye, I knew, she saw me too. And so we began an awkward, polite conversation. I was wary about our accidental encounter and relieved when it was over.
Have you ever bumped into a person that you were uncomfortable to be with? Maybe it’s because of a hurtful, past experience or a childhood trauma you went through.
How could it be possible, that so many years had already gone by; yet the sting of careless words spoken, rushes back in our memory, and affects our present behavior? What is it about hearing someone’s comments that make our soul like a dormant volcano?
I guess it is human nature that when someone says nasty things, you don’t want to be with them. Sure, the wound may have healed, but no one wants to hang around the “wounder”.
We have what I call “Velcro words”. These are words that cling to our souls, if we’re not careful.
A Swiss engineer named George de Mestral went walking in the woods one day, and came home with his pants covered with cockleburs—a nasty, thorny weed that grew in the wild, and was hard to get rid off. This gave him the idea to invent Velcro.
Our mind can get filled with these “cockleburs” too. It can make us prickly people. Before we know it, we have a bitter library collection of Velcro words: “Hurtful Words People Have Said to Us”, “Disappointments in Life”, “Pain”, and “Regrets.”
Well, one day, God came and spring-cleaned my mind. (He often needs to.)
God: “Get rid of your collection, Marie.”
Me: “What?! But I didn’t say anything wrong! She did.”
God: “I know.”
Me: “Well then, I have a right to hold onto her wrong, right??”
God: “Nope.”
Me: “Well, I’m not sure I can,”
God: “You can, because I did.”
And in those five words, I learned another secret. (Still am!)
Secret: “We can, because He did.”
Check out how one of the apostles, Peter, blew it big-time. He disowns Jesus, lies three times, while his friend was being beaten and mocked!
“The servant girl at the door said to Peter, ‘You also are not one of this man's disciples, are you?’ He said, ‘I am not.’” (John 18: 17)
“Now Simon Peter was standing and warming himself. So they said to him, ‘You also are not one of his disciples, are you?’ He denied it and said, ‘I am not.’” (John 18: 25)
“One of the servants of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, ‘Did I not see you in the garden with him?’ Peter again denied it, and at once a rooster crowed.” (John 18: 26-27)
Now see how Jesus responds after his resurrection:
“When they got out on land, they saw a charcoal fire in place, with fish laid out on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, ‘Bring some of the fish that you have just caught.’ So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, 153 of them. And although there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, ‘Come and have breakfast.’” (John 21: 9-12)
What?? The guy practically abandoned you, and you say ‘come and have breakfast’???
In my sanctified imagination, this is how I’m seeing it…Peter realizes what he did. He resigns from his job as an apostle and says ‘I failed my boss…I’m just going back to what I used to do before I met Jesus . . . go fishing’.
In all His might and power, Jesus didn’t electrocute Peter’s fishing boat—but He gives Peter a miracle by supplying him with not 10 or 20. . . but 153 fish! PLUS He cooks the guy breakfast by the beach and affirms Peter’s calling! God’s love is unbelievable to comprehend sometimes.
What our human nature couldn’t do, Jesus’ divine nature was able to do. Now, as God’s children, we have access to that power.
“By his divine power, God has given us everything we need for living a godly life.” (2 Peter 1: 3)
Instead of allowing Velcro words to bother us, let it be the words of our wise God to heal and release us.
C.S Lewis expressed it this way:
“To be a Christian means to forgive the inexcusable, because God has forgiven the inexcusable in you.”
Oops, excuse me, I have some “spring cleaning” to do… See you next Thursday : >
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