A Timely Word

Mark 11:26 But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.

I read something very interesting. It's about a new word we need to learn, it’s Eskimo. The word is issumagijoujunnainermik. When missionaries first shared the gospel with the Eskimos, they couldn’t find any word in the Eskimo language for forgiveness.  So, they took a number of Eskimo words and joined them to form a new word — Issu-magi-jou-jun-nai-ner-mik — and it became the Eskimo word for forgiveness. The individual words are “Not-being-able-to-think-about-it-anymore.”

Too often we remember the hurt, replaying it over and over again in our minds. Forgiveness is not something we do just once.  It is something we must reaffirm every day. We’ve all said and/or heard it said, “I’ll forgive but I’ll never forget.”  It is human nature to hang on to those wounds like ragged red badges of pain. We can leave them in a velvet box in our top drawer most of the time but when something triggers a hurtful memory we drag them out and pin them to our chest. Some people use them as a shield to hide behind. ‘I was wounded. See, here’s the proof and I am not going to risk having that happen again!’

I think the saddest situation of all is when people become so afraid of being hurt and disappointment, their personalities are altered, their view on life is seen through a filter saturated with pain and they avoid really opening up to others. For them the possibility of pain closes the door to the possibility of enjoying relational fellowship with others. Their guard is always up, their radar on the pain frequency and their invisible shields pulse with fear.

People, I have known walking-talking Christians to do the same thing. They know the right Christian words to say, the right face to paint on for public appearances and may be serving in all sorts of ministries. The surface can practically glow from all the Christian polish to blind themselves and others to those ragged red badges of pain they hide behind. They hold up the Shield of Faith but feel they must reinforce it with their shield of ‘hurt badges’. Their daily quoted scripture becomes, “Yea, tho I walk through the valley of ghosts of hurts past, I pretend to fear no evil…”

Some actions are involuntary, more reaction than conscience choices. For instance, I was sexually abused as a teen. I was wakened in the night by the abuser rubbing his hands on me and talking to me as if I were awake. It was frightening and startling when it jerked me awake. To this day, I have a quick trigger startle reflex. My own husband cannot wake me with a touch but must stand back and gently call me name. If he just starts talking or touches me, my startle reflex kicks in and I feel the terror of the abuse all over again. My heart rate jumps to crazy fast and it takes a few minutes to calm down emotionally. It’s a scary reaction. Since I am sleeping when this happens, I cannot make the choice not to do it.

When we replay the pain in our lives, we are wide awake. We may not be able to do anything about the gut level trigger but we choose whether we breathe life into or not. Scripture tells us how to deal with those thoughts. 2 Corinthians 10:5 “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”   I like that Eskimo word and all the words that comprised it. As with most issues, we have a choice to make. Whenever a hurtful memory comes up, remember the word Issu-magi-jou-jun-nai-ner-mik, and say, “I can’t think about it anymore, it’s in God’s hands.”

Rather than replay the hurt we have acquired, let’s choose to replay God’s mercy, His grace, His love for us (and them) — when He freely gave His life. That will put perspective on those little red badges and enable us to focus on the peace of God and move forward.