Are you stoking the fire?

Starter Prayer:  "God of Compassion, Mother and Father of all Mercies, do not let us shame ourselves--or the wonder of your name--by living outside the wondrous loop of your forgiveness and mercy."  (From Wondrous Encounters by Richard Rohr)

Today's reading asks us to think about how we choose to stoke a fire that keeps us in the "heat" of the furnace of unforgiveness.   Whenever we withold forgiveness and mercy we are hurt more than our offender.  Unforgiveness blazes red hot in our hearts, and if it is not quenched it will consume our ability to see the "other" as somebody who is seen by God.

Our prayer for God's help will be answered.  And with God's help we will move from the heat of anger, hatred and a need for vengeance into the wondrous, endless loop of forgiveness and mercy.

Furthermore, with God's help, it is possible for us to be healed.  Our utter dependence upon God to show us the way through the land of the unforgiven allows us to pass through unscathed.