pre-forgiveness

it's something that i've thought about before, but due to recent conversations, i've revisited the idea of "the benefit of the doubt" and it's uses. have you ever known anyone who was easily offended? yeah, me too! in fact, there are probably people who will read the words i'm typing right now and be offended. (i've always thought of it as a bizarre way to control people. after all, if everyone feels like they're walking on eggshells around you, you've got the power, right?) may i submit to you, in love, a suggestion? the act of pre-forgiveness. if we find it too difficult to walk through life thinking the best of people maybe we should commit ourselves to forgive people for being who they are. sceptics and cynics alike can employ this simple tool and effectively change their outlook as well as their appearance to others! why, the easily offended person might even begin to make friends if they simply decide to forgive in advance. understandably, not everyone is capable of being a happy, contented human being - and that's all right. we need a little variety in this big old world of ours - spice of life, you know? however, i guarantee you, there would be fewer divorces, family squabbles, racial tension, office drama and all around rancor if we could all learn to not be sooooooooo sensitive. stop assuming the worst about people and see how everything changes. food tastes better. the sky is bluer. the grass is greener. your whites are whiter. and best of all, you don't drive away any more friends.

I cor 13:4-5

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.