We all have had people who have wronged us! I have had conversations regarding this with many of my fellow Christian sisters and not one of them could say that they have not encountered this issue. People hurt us because of their own insecurities regarding who we are and how we make them fee about themselves. These can be mothers in law, sisters in law, in-laws in general….neighbours, close friends, colleagues…the list can be never ending! Even with our best intentions, people may misread them or even manipulate them to make us look bad. When things like this happen…all that blares through my mind is ‘I WANT THEM TO PAY!’ I cannot in all honesty pretend to be a ‘forgive and forget all’ kind of person. I am not! This is an area that is a personal struggle for me in the deepest possible way! These days I have learnt to rely on the Lord and his words to pacify myself, but forgiveness was definitely not my forte.
One day, a certain line in the Lord’s prayer dawned on me, Matthew 6: 12: And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
The condition to forgiveness seemed to hold my attention for the very first time! As I referred later to the entire chapter of Matthew 6, I noted an interesting point….following the Lord’s prayer in verses 9-13, despite everything he said in the prayer before the forgiveness part and after it as well, in verses 14-15, we see that the only thing Jesus tries to reiterate is about forgiveness!
For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Does it not seem interesting that of all the important things that Jesus taught us to say in the prayer, he gives the most significance to forgiveness, enough significance to repeat it and spell it out clearly!
So what do we do with these feelings? How do we satisfy our urge for payback?
Romans 12:19: Beloved,AN)"> never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written,"Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord."
The Lord loves us too much to let us fight any battles on our own, especially emotional ones like these. So what’s his solution? I must admit, it took some teeth gritting to get on board with this one…
Romans 12: 20: To the contrary,"if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
Wow! Now look at that! That’s an interesting form of vengeance isn’t it?! So my dearest friends, as children of the Most High, let us not fall into the traps of petty resentment and vengeance. Let ask the Lord for his power and grace to overcome evil with good so that we may be what the Lord interestingly points out in
Matthew 5: 13: "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
Let us not lose the flavour we have been blessed with over something as petty as holding on to those grudges, lest we become useless to the Lord!
I am putting up a vegetarian recipe today…..hopefully it will be useful to those of you keeping up with the season of lent!
Creamy Paneer with vegetables
Ingredients:
Cubed Paneer pieces – 500gms
Oil for frying – as required
Thinly Sliced Onion – 1
Thinly Sliced Capsicum – 1
Thinly Sliced Mushrooms – 100 gms
Thinly Sliced Tomato – 1
Cashews (for making paste) – ½ cup
Water (for cashew paste) – ½ cup
Coriander powder – 1 teaspoon
Turmeric powder – ¼ teaspoon
Cumin powder – ¼ teaspoon
Diced Green chilly – 3
Full cream – ½ cup
Water – ¼ cup
Diced Coriander leaves – 2 Tablespoon
Salt – as required
Instructions:
- Fry the paneer pieces, drain and keep aside.
- After soaking cashews in the water for 20 minutes, grind the cashews along with the water to form a smooth paste and keep aside.
- Take 4 Tablespoons of oil in a Kadai, add green chilly, then onions, fry the onions till golden brown, to this add the mushrooms and fry till mushrooms start to brown.
- Now turn off the flame and add coriander, turmeric and cumin powder, mix well and turn the flame back on. To this add the tomatoes and sauté till the tomatoes are cooked.
- Then add the cashew paste and cook well on a low flame, while stirring, till the raw smell subsides.
- Now add the capsicum and mix well, followed by the water and salt as required. Allow this to boil for 5 minutes.
- Turn off the flame, add the cream, mix well, garnish with coriander leaves and serve hot.
No comments:
Post a Comment