Forgiveness is for you, not the other person, even though the other person is the one you are forgiving, it is really freeing you from the shackles...I hope that makes sense?
Nina called me and told me that I simply had to come over. She didn't sound as if she thought anything was wrong, but I could tell by her face the minute that she opened the door, she knew.
I was done being the emotional punching bag, done being the scape goat, done putting the FUN in dysFUNctional; stick a fork in me... done.
"Come in, come in. " she said stepping away from the door and motioning me in with her arm extended. " I got the coffee on," she continued. " I've been thinking about you all day, you know?" I didn't know, but I nodded just the same.
I followed her into the dining room. I could smell the coffee brewing. Nina stopped at the head of the table where there was a big white covered box. She thumped it with the palm of her right hand. "Peaches," she said. " I'm gonna do some preserves and pies, but today I thought we would make Peach Cobbler."
After coffee, she led me back to that big white box on the dining room table. This time I was carrying a big metal colander. She lifted the top from the box and began carefully putting peaches in the colander. I noticed that some of the peaches had deep dark scars on them. Nina was squeezing each peach before she placed it in my care.
"These have a lot of scars, but they are not bruised. Scars happen during the growing process, like if the peach is touching a branch. It doesn't affect the fruit in the long run. The peach will outgrow the scar, and continue to grow. Time heals all wounds, you know. The bruising happens when people are careless after they have picked the fruit."
I carried the load of peaches to the kitchen where we washed them. Nina had me touch a few of the scars on the peaches to show me that they were now calloused only on the surface. I felt like a kid on field trip when she did that; it's always fun learning what she's teaching and it's definitely never boring.
She cut into a big peach with her paring knife and handed me a thick slice with a scar on it. "Taste," she said. I tasted. It was sweet and juicy. She was right, the scar had not affected the taste of this peach at all. "This peach has character. You know character?" I nodded, she continued "Character is what something or someone gets once it gets past the physical and emotional scars. Things happen in life that may be beyond our control. How we react to it is either what holds us back or lets us move forward." She stopped and lifted her eyebrow to me, I nodded. She was completely quiet until then.
"Strength and fortitude come from scars, just like in this peach." She tapped a large, firm peach with a long red scar on it, then held it up and rocked it like a snow globe in her hand. "People give and get scars differently; hopefully they will still reap the benefit of strength and fortitude. Some don't and end up wallowing in woe far too long....It can steal your life from you. don't let it steal your life," she warned.
Nina moved the sliced peaches to the side, she then set out a white cake mix and measuring cups. "Just a few ingredients go into the cobbler. It's a very simple dessert.
As simple as taking those scars from the peaches and making them into something wonderful.
Life can be as simple as that if you are willing to let go of the bruises and the scars each day and begin a new beautiful day."
Copyright 2015-2021- Noelle Sangster/Sangster Entertainment LLC - All rights reserved
Noelle Sangster on Amazon
Noelle Sangster on Amazon
