I do not have many opportunities to visit my childhood home. Only every few years, I get to go travel to see my mother and father, sisters, and extended family overseas. There are wonderful aspects to that as well as many drawbacks.
A wonderful aspect is that we can easily overlook small offenses. We know the time of our visit is typically short and we all try to make the best of it.
On the other hand, we forget that we are not the same people we were several years ago and each time we visit, it takes a while to adjust to the changes in each other’s lives. It is easy to see each other through glasses of the past. While glancing at the past is good, staring at it and camping there can be dangerous. God works in people’s lives where we cannot see. We must continually pray to see one another with His eyes, not through our own faulty remembrances. The enemy likes it when we view through these glasses of the past. He often finds ways to accuse here, where the past is ever before our eyes.
The Lord was gracious to me a few days ago, when the enemy once again tried to remind me of my past sins. The Holy Spirit reminded me of Acts 10:15 (and the correlating verses in Acts 10:28 and Acts 11:9). I penned the following poem as a result.
~
The enemy, with voices clear,
Tries to accuse of past sins here
In search for peace of mind and rest.
He taunts me – tells me I’m a mess.
~
He tries convincing of my mind
Says full forgiveness I can’t find.
When all along all that I’ve done
Was paid by Christ, God’s only Son.
~
What God, in love, made holy ground
Cannot be charged, nor blamed, nor bound.
What once set free by Christ the King,
May now to Him sweet praises sing.
~
“The voice spoke to him a second time,
‘Do not call anything impure that God has made clean.’”
Acts 10:15
~
“Father God,
teach me to see with Your eyes.
I want to see others (and myself) through eyes of forgiveness.
Only here, can You pour Your grace and mercy into my heart.
Help me to remember the things I should never forget,
and teach me to forget the things I should never remember.”
~
(Heidi Viars, 2013)
Heidi Viars 
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