Snickers “Gets” Forgiveness

My dog, Snickers and I, have a love-hate relationship.

Not really. It’s mostly all love …  but unfortunately she’s been unintentionally trained to sleep on the same schedule as me which generally is 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. And a 5-month-old cocker spaniel pup likes to be a little more active at 3 a.m. than me. The biting from her razor-sharp teeth has yet to subside.

Over the weekend in the early morning hours as I was stumbling through the kitchen for the first of a dozen cups of coffee, I accidentally stepped on Snicker’s paw in a way that really hurt. She let out a yelp such as I’ve never heard.

Seconds later, she was in my lap giving me a kiss. Oh, to be more like Snickers.

Why do we have such a terribly difficult time with forgiveness?

“Forgive” is mentioned 53 times in the King James version of the Bible. That doesn’t include forms of the word such as forgiveness, forgave, forgiven, etc. And certainly, it’s the permeating theme of the New  Testament as we’re told not to forgive seven times, but rather 70 times seven.

Snickers’ lesson came in handy over the weekend, and if you’re a blogger, you’ll understand this, in particular.

Several days ago, I posted on the results of a DISC assessment I’d recently taken. After a careful read, I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about how terrible I was as the DISC described in me certain traits such as aggressiveness, abrasiveness, forcefulness, etc.

If you can’t poke a little fun at yourself on your own blog, what’s it worth anyway, right?

Yesterday to my surprise, a relatively close family member apparently read the post and submitted a passive-aggressive comment for approval with a desire to tell the world just how bad a guy I am. I expect her expression was a result of unfortunate family circumstances that surrounded my dad’s death about 6 weeks ago. It’s all a crying shame.

Nobody loves a good fight more than me, dude. I’ll watch Gladiator and Braveheart from dawn ’til dusk. I may even change my name to Maximus before this thing is done.

So there’s the comment – right in front of me. I want to react immediately, but I walk away for several hours – contemplating.

Time passes, anger subsides, and I come back and simply hit the “unapprove” button and move on. I wanted to fight. I wanted to engage (and maybe this is my way of doing so) but I walked away.

I want to forgive, because I need much forgiveness. My Savior died for me and has forgiven my sins. I’m nowhere near experiencing the agony of crucifixion, so I can let a rude comment slide, right?

I’ll go fight somewhere else, and hopefully, it will be for a higher cause.

Oh, to be more like Snickers.