Our Life is Sweet

We put on a seder last night for a group of lovely people in Fanning Springs.  Something happened to me as we were reading the haggadah.  It was the same haggadah we've used for several years so I'm sure I read this particular phrase numerous times.  But last night the L-rd quickened it to my heart and I was convicted about something.  

We were at the part of the seder in which we were about to taste the parsley and salt water to remember the tears our ancestors shed because of their harsh slavery.  The author of the haggadah stated, "Even though we have a sweet life today, let us remember...."  The phrase reminded me that in spite of the problems, issues, inconveniences, irritations, etc. I may have in my life those things are nothing compared to the hardships the Israelites had as slaves to Egypt.  I have not had to endure the grief of having a baby boy ripped from my harms to be slaughtered or had to work in the hot desert sun to produce bricks from nothing.  

I was convicted because earlier that day I had let something bother me to the point that it aggitated me all day long and really robbed me of the joy of the L-rd I should have been basking in as a child of the King.  This thing that bothered me was really something trivial which made me feel even more sheepish when I reflected on it under the light of G-d's love.  I realized how differently I could have handled the situation and the opportunity I had to let my light shine.  Needless to say I was humbled speechless.

So I'm hoping this experience will stay with me so that I can avoid making this same mistake again.  I'm so grateful for a G-d who understands my humanness and makes a way for me to walk after Messiah.  I'm grateful that the L-rd's grace allowed me to receive His gentle correction and enabled His light to reveal those hidden places of sin I needed to deal with.

And today's Omer (day 2) counting verse supports this lesson:

Leviticus 19:18 Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD

Have a great day in your sweet life..... Healthy love must always include an element of discipline and discernment; a degree of distance and respect for another's boundaries;