Break Free...Tear Down the Wall

~~~Memorial of Saint Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr~~~

~~~Ezekiel 12:1-12~~~Psalm 78 ~~~Matthew 18:21-19:1~~~

...each of you forgives his brother from his heart.

We hear so much about forgiveness,
 that I fear sometimes we become indifferent to its importance.
We know Jesus tells Peter to forgive
not seven times but seventy-seven times.
And yet we all struggle with forgiveness.
It does not occur to us to keep count because each time we are hurt
we place a brick on the wall within our heart.
This may be the reason we must pray for God to give us a new heart...
to take away our heart of stone.
We desire to be close to God, but that is only possible
 if we can forgive as he forgives.
Yikes! That is such a challenging undertaking.
For some reason we hold on to those things that we should forgive.
It is within our heart that we store these hurtful details,
so it must be from within our heart that we find forgiveness.

...while they look on, dig a hole in the wall and pass through it;
while they look on, shoulder the burden and set out in the darkness...

Using this verse from the prophet Ezekiel;
we must begin digging a hole in the wall of past hurts
until we can at least reach through to the other side.

The only way to escape the pain is to allow your heart to forgive...
to dig a hole in the wall...to take the bricks down.
There is no 'other side' of the wall if we cannot forgive.
The burden we carry will be removed if we but break through the wall.

The burden we carry of not forgiving keeps our heart
 laden with heavy stones.

This wall did not instantly rise up in your heart over night
so it may take a very long time and much effort
to just begin to dig the hole.

The smallest brick you remove will begin to let the light
 from the other side trickle through.

The more bricks removed from the wall
 the more light will come through,  the more you can see
 the more you will appreciate the beauty of forgiveness.

It is time to begin to take down the wall within your heart
one stone at a time for as long as it takes.
Begin today, you will be so glad you did.
 Do not wait any longer.

Break Free...Tear Down the Wall.
You will be Blessed with a new heart and untold peace.

~~~Peace~~~