Emily's Card

I have reached one of my therapy goals. I can get down on my knees and thank God for getting me through five trips to the hospital this year. Thank you, God! Thank you, Friends, for your prayers and messages and cards. I could not have done it without you! But of the cards I received, only one card asked a question. Emily's card. Emily is a Sweetheart. She sent me a store-bought Get Well card. Thank you, Emily! Inside the store-bought card was a card Emily had made herself. Thank you, Emily! A butterfly. A symbol of new life. At the bottom of Emily's card is the question. The question taken from John's Gospel, chapter 5, verse 6. "Do you want to be healed?" That's the question Jesus asks me every day. "Do you want to be healed?" I believe that is the question Jesus is asking us through today's Gospel reading about forgiveness. "Do you want to be healed?" Friday, I was at the hospital again. Only a test this time. Man, that bowel contrast stuff sure tastes good! The local paper was there. Full of stories about remembering the September 11 terrorist attacks. There was nothing in there about forgiveness. Of course not. Our culture is about winning and losing. If somebody hurts me, they have won. And I have lost. The only way for me to get the win back is by revenge Revenge. Beat the bad guy. This works great. In the movies. What about real life? You can see how well the religion of revenge works in real life by looking at all the peace and joy in our culture. Go to the supermarket this afternoon. Look at all the smiling faces. The smiling faces full of peace and joy. Where? Where? Maybe the religion of revenge doesn't serve us as well as we believe. And Jesus is still asking the question on Emily's card, "Do you want to be healed?" You know, we got another anniversary coming up. On October 2, it will be twenty years since Charles Roberts went into an Amish schoolhouse and shot ten little Amish girls. And what was the Amish community's response? They chose to forgive. They had sorrow and rage and fear. And they chose to forgive. They began the struggle to forgive. As one Amish person said, "You have to fight the bitter thoughts." I'm sure they will struggle more on October 2, as they remember that terrible day 20 years ago. And I believe Jesus keeps asking the question on Emily's card, "Do you want to be healed?" I say frequently, because it's true, my plan is to Pray and Worry, Worry and Pray, Pray and Worry. In light of Jesus' command to forgive, and His question, Do you want to be healed?," I'm gonna go with Pray and Resent, Resent and Pray, Pray and Resent.......