After a month and a half of hard work, hubby and I have finally finished our log-splitting project! Whoo-Hoo!
I was standing in awe, gazing at all the neatly stacked wood in the woodshed, when it occurred to me that some people “store up offenses” against others much like all that split firewood stored up in the woodshed.
We all fail each other. Nobody is perfect. We all have our own mistakes, flaws, and failures.
Sometimes our failures are small … like the small trees hubby and I take down. Just small trees with a small diameter … not very tall. Hardly any firewood comes from these small trees.
Sometimes, we mess up really big … our failures are huge! Here you can see a picture of a large hemlock we had taken down recently. All those huge logs in the photo are from just one hemlock tree. It is a massive pile of massively large logs! Each log was sawed into many multiple rounds! Dozens of rounds!! Then each round was placed on the log-splitter multiple times! Each round was split, then split, then split even more! Each round resulted in lots and lots of firewood pieces!
When it comes to relationships, the mess-ups and failures of those with whom we are in relationship result in similar “downed debris.” The question is: What will we do with all that “downed debris”?
Will we work together to “clean up the mess” … and restore the relationship?
Or will we “store up the offenses” … to then use at a later time against the person who failed us?
Many people choose to “store up offenses” … much like our background photo shows stacks and stacks of firewood, stored up to be burned at a later date.
What is the purpose of “storing up offenses”? To “burn” the other person with … obviously.
Those who choose to “store up offenses” light small fires in the privacy of their own mind. Nothing big, mind you. Just an offense or two, pulled off the tall stack of “stored up failures.” Just a little “roasting” of the other person in their mind.
It’s not long before the relationship starts to have issues. Something is not quite right.
The small private fires in the mind are doing damage … the continual mental “roasting” of the other person is resulting in a breakdown of communication. Respect for the other person is being burned away. Trust is going up in smoke.
The longer the private fires of the mind continue, the bigger they grow. Until eventually “sparks” begin to leap out of the mouth … “roasting” the other person verbally. This could be either “roasting” the other person behind their back (with a gossip buddy!) … or “roasting” them to their face (in an argument!).
Red-hot embers spew out … from past offenses “stored up.” Scorching! Burning!
Proverbs 26:21 – “ … as wood to fire, so is a quarrelsome person for kindling strife.”
Proverbs 17:9 – “He who covers over an offense promotes love, but whoever repeats the matter separates close friends.”
“Storing up offenses” will absolutely burn a relationship to the ground!!
