Be a Screen Door, Not a Doormat

This is a re-post, but it speaks to the issue of forgiveness. Sometimes forgiveness is letting the hurt blow through.

Sometimes we just need to be a screen door, letting all those hurtful comments and actions blow through us. Not allowing them to sit in our souls so that we develop a spirit of bitterness. How does one go about this when the ache is so great? The offense is so deep that it threatens to rip a person apart? By the Grace of God. Giving people grace (unmerited favor) is the only way to be a screen door.

The danger in being a screen door is that we don't become the doormat in the process. You know a doormat when you see one, right? The person that people walk all over and abuse because she won't stand up and set some the boundary..."You may not walk all over me."

Jesus was a screen door.

He said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." {Luke 23:34} He freely forgave those that offended Him...even those that murdered Him! And yet...

Jesus was no doormat.

This is written of Jesus after He cleared the temple by turning over a few tables and getting angry, "But Jesus would no entrust himself to them, for he knew all men." {John 2:24}

The greatest challenge of my life has been to know when to be the screen door and when to not be the doormat...or better yet, how to do both at the same time. There is a delicate balance between setting up boundaries and yet being gracious at the same time. I am still in the process of learning to let the hurt blow through without being stomped on.