Fore-Giveness

I love golf, but I must admit I’m not very good. I never know where my ball is going when I hit my drive off the tee. When it goes into the other fairway, I yell, “Fore.”

“Fore” is another word for “ahead” (think of a ship’s fore and aft). Yelling “fore” is simply a shorter way to yell “watch out ahead” (or “watch out before”). It allows golfers to be forewarned, in other words.

As I think about forgiveness, I think yelling “fore” is another way of saying, I’m sorry if the ball hits you, I’m a bad golfer, watch out.

Forgiveness is key to enjoying the life God has given us. I used to be so frustrated playing golf because I set an unrealistic expectation for my golf game. I now forgive myself for the bad shots I hit, and I enjoy the game so much more.

When I came to grips that I would not play a perfect game, I enjoyed myself much more.

Maybe there is a parallel to life in the analogy.  Many times we set pretty high expectations on ourselves and others. What if we gave ourselves and others a dose of forgiveness?

Do you hold onto incidents that have happened in your life? Here is a great story of a boy who had to learn this lesson.

A little boy was visiting his grandparents on their farm.

He was given a slingshot to play within the woods.

He practiced, but he could never hit the target.

Getting a little discouraged, he headed back for dinner.

As he was walking back, he saw Grandma’s pet duck.

Just out of impulse, he let the slingshot fly, hit the duck

square in the head, and killed it. He was shocked and grieved!

In a panic, he hid the dead duck in the woodpile, only to

see his sister watching!

Sally had seen it all, but she said nothing.

After lunch the next day, Grandma said, “Sally, let’s wash the dishes.”

But Sally said, “Grandma, Johnny told me he wanted to help in the  kitchen.”

Then she whispered to him, “Remember the duck?”

So Johnny did the dishes.

Later that day, Grandpa asked if the children wanted to go fishing and

Grandma said, “I’m sorry, but I need Sally to help make supper.”

Sally just smiled and said, “Well, that’s all right because Johnny told

me he wanted to help,” She whispered  again, “Remember the duck?”

So Sally went fishing, and Johnny stayed to help.

After several days of Johnny doing both his chores and Sally’s;

he finally couldn’t stand it any longer.

He came to Grandma and confessed that he had killed the duck.

Grandma knelt, hugged him, and said, “Sweetheart, I know.  I was standing at the window, and I saw the whole thing,

but because I love you, I forgave you. I was just wondering how long you

would let Sally make a slave of you.”

Whatever is in your past, whatever you have done…

You are forgiven. Can you give that same forgiveness to someone else?

This is one of the most important lessons to learn on this journey we are on.

Shalom

Jerry