70 X 7 Begins with Family
I think I understand where 70 X 7 forgiveness needs to begin... with family! It seems so easy to walk in grace, understanding, forgiveness with the casual people in our lives.. our friends, neighbors, our co-workers.. they all have faults, shortcomings.. Somehow it seems easy for us to go with the flow with them, to enjoy them .. to see the faults and yet be ok with those faults and still see the good. We can accept that they may have a short coming or 2 but they're still great people and have amazing things they bring to the world.
It's easier for us to "live and let live" with people outside of our families. With our families we seem to be constantly having an opinion about what they do, don't do, how they spend their time, raise their children, spend their money. We find it harder to join in their lives with unfettered support and encouragement. We have something to prove. Their successes battle with our insecurities.. maybe if they are more successful in a certain area than us, than we are less.
Family events bring us all together. We enjoy these times immensely on one hand and on the other are faced with constant opportunities to get offended or hurt! Our son just had his wedding.. who is going to be called into family pictures & are the number of pictures taken going to be even? Where is each relative going to be seated at the reception & is there going to be hurts if one is seated at a table more prominent than another? Who is going to be called on to play a special part and who is not, and will they be hurt? What if one family member is given a place of more honor than another.. will they be offended? What if you don't get around to talking to each guest in the same amount?
What is each family member doing with their lives? Every one is so vastly different. Can we be supportive, encouraging instead of opinionated & judgemental? Can we just get together and celebrate each other's lives like we would with a non-family friend?
The faults, stereotypes & hurts seem to shade things, make them "heavier" than when we enjoy times with simple friends. The relationships are richer & deeper & yet we are tempted to be robbed of that joy, fulfillment of those life time relationships by these ugly, counterfeit trappings.
No one thrives through being criticized. People thrive through being celebrated. The gift of this life is in pushing away those robbings and taking the gift of each person, exactly the way they are & with exactly the unique bent on this world that they possess.. unwrap it as a gift instead of feeling like we need to compare ourselves to it or pass judgement whether it's in line with the way we would live or not. See the beauty of there being so many ways to approach this life. Encourage each other in every way you can.. celebrate each other's person hoods & lives. Walk freely and lightly.
Live the way in the way you choose; let that be your statement & let others do the same. When those heavy emotions and those 70 x 7 opportunities for getting offended throw themselves in your face as you're together, vehemently rise up against them.. they are there to try to rob us of amazing life & the blessing of family! Maybe that's one of the improvements that you see as families and siblings grow older and they drop their intense emotions & judgements of each other & move into acceptance and enjoy one another, realizing that all those years of negativity was something they got lost in somehow.. such a waste. And they see the gifts of those individuals God has placed in their family & unwrap, & savor them.