One Of The Ten

One of the Ten

Peter came to [Jesus] and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!”

Matthew 18:21-22

My mom and dad were happily married for seventy years. They did not argue or fight, and they kept up a continual, affable conversation throughout the day. Dad read to Mom from the newspaper. Mom reminded Dad about things that had happened on that same day in years past from the daily journal she has kept for more than thirty years.

My parents were great forgivers, which is what made it all work for such a long time. Their marriage reminds me of a story pastor and author Paul Lee Tan tells.

At her golden wedding anniversary party a wife told guests the secret of her happy marriage:

“On my wedding day, I decided to make a list of ten of my husband’s faults that, for the sake of our marriage, I would overlook.”

As the guests were leaving, a young woman whose marriage had recently been experiencing some difficulties asked the older woman what some of the faults were that she had seen fit to overlook.

The older woman said, “To tell you the truth, my dear, I never did get around to actually listing them. But whenever my husband did anything that made me hopping mad, I would say to myself, Lucky for him that’s one of the ten!”

That woman could have been my mother. Mom and Dad surely understood Jesus’ direction about forgiveness, because I’m sure they had to forgive each other more than seven times during every one of their seventy years together.

O Lord, thank you for forgiveness. It is the healing oil that keeps life working smoothly. I pray that I will be more forgiving and that others will forgive me freely, because I know I will always need it. I love you, Lord. Amen.