“Mommmmmm! I peed on Sian!”

Sigh.

A reccuring – – – let’s call it a situation – – –  is going on at our house right now.

My toddler, Sian, is on the cusp of potty training, by that I mean she’s interested in all things having to do with the toilet.  Everyday is a potty party with toilet paper streamers and a greatest flushes playlist.

Dom, at the ripe ol’ age of 3, has got this potty thing down.  He’s a rockstar, unfortunately Sian has become his biggest fan.

Poor kid.

Just mindlessly trying to do his thing, her chubby hand has found it’s way into the stream making its way into the toilet 3, no make that 4 times in the past couple of weeks.

Hence the, “Mommmmmmmmm! I peed on Sian!”

Let me tell you, life with kids is never dull.

I wish this was some funny segway into some deeply spiritual truth – for those of you holding your breath, no, it’s really not.

Just a reminder for all of us that offenses come and that forgiveness is the soap that helps us to move past them.

Sometimes, we just happen to be in the right place at the right time.

Lucky us.

Generally speaking, most people don’t mean to pee all over us with unkind words or selfish acts.  Life just happens.

Sometimes we want to hold onto the offense because after all, the person owes us – they wronged us.  We want an explanation, an apology, a reason.  And sometimes we will be given the explanation we want but most of the time we will be left in the dark.

Unfair, I know – but to withhold forgiveness is like refusing to wash the pee off our hands and using the rationale that it’s okay because it was someone else’s fault in the first place.

That’s why God tells to wash off offenses with forgiveness and to do it quickly.

Make a clean break with all cutting, backbiting, profane talk.  Be gentle with one another, sensitive.  Forgive one another as quickly and thoroughly as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:31-32 (The Message)

It’s to our benefit to forgive.  It allows us to receive God’s forgiveness.

In prayer there is a connection between what God does and what you do. You can’t get forgiveness from God, for instance, without also forgiving others. If you refuse to do your part, you cut yourself off from God’s part.
Matthew 6:14-15 (The Message)

We don’t earn God’s forgiveness, but we sure as heck can’t receive something we don’t believe in.  If we truly believe in the forgiveness of our sins, how can we withhold the extravagance that was given to us?

In Jesus, God has forgiven every single wrong we have ever committed.  We should be able to forgive the one or two that come our way.  No matter how wrong, how big the offense.

Forgiveness is not a free pass to let the person walk all over you – it is releasing the person from the debt they owed you, washing off the residue from what was done.

So, how can we know if we’ve really forgiven the person?
If you’re not sure:
– ask God to search your heart

– listen to the words that come out of your mouth/roll around in your head.  If you’re cussing the person up and down and 30 ways past Sunday, then you might want to explore why.

Forgiveness isn’t easy, but it is freeing.

Into every life, a little pee will fall. . .just make sure you have some soap handy when it does.