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Circumstances for Clapping Hands is a blog about reasons to give praise to God, despite my circumstances. As Henry David Thoreau once addressed, “There is no value in life except what you choose to place upon it and no happiness in any place except what you bring to it yourself.” The challenges: 1) Find value in everything you do and 2) Find joy in doing it.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Down & Out?

"When mistakes are made, even serious ones, there is always another chance. What we call failure is not falling down but the staying down." - Mary Pickford

I don't often give much credence to verbiage shared by Hollywood, yet I think Ms. Pickford hits it on the nose. As I'm sure it happens much in an actor's life, so to does failure affect the Christian's walk daily.

But how does failure really influence us? It's simple, by discouraging us to try again. I know the feeling, I've experienced it daily. Whether it be by way of occupation, relationships, or other, we fail everyday.

Our biggest failure to date however, might be one we often overlook. A daily search for forgiveness from the only true provider of such.

I've realized lately that as Christians we do take for granted personal forgiveness. How often do we actually stop and ask for forgiveness after a sin, big or small? Truth is not very often, thus neglecting an important exercise in our daily relationship with God. In forgetting to do so, I believe we mis-out on some future blessings designed specifically for us?

Just a thought or two...

3 comments:

  1. I like this thought :) very challenging!

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  2. This is true-- but just to play the Devil's Advocate, I think that there are also some Christians who are the opposite. They mistake God's Grace for a Get-out-of-Jail-Free card, and tell themselves "it's ok, God will forgive me, so I am going to keep doing this." It's true that God forgives them, but they totally take advantage of that. They are far too willing to forgive themselves for something that they aren't making any effort to change.

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  3. I agree with Dionne. I recently had a conversation with a very sincere Catholic girl who said that we too often play the Grace card, and to a fault. I was convicted and it's really caused me to reevaluate how I come across to others in regards to this.

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