Somewhere along the journey we find ourselves on, we almost always have those few things we wish we could take back. How wonderful would it be to just turn back the hands of time, to press rewind and start again? Sometimes erasing what happened all together seems most appropriate. We all undoubtedly come to those cross sections, where we know in order to get to the next phase of our lives we have to accept what is and move on to what now can be. We realize and acknowledge our mistakes to work through them. However, only to quickly realize that fresh start we are steadily progressing toward isn’t so easy of a task to come by anymore.

Why is it that even after we’ve asked for forgiveness of our wrong doings that there always seems to be that one person that can’t just let it go? Here we are working through the things we’ve done diligently and wholeheartedly, only to feel the sting of sin all over again every time someone brings it up. It’s the story people can’t stop talking about and the wound they refuse to let heal. The weight you were so sure you had let go of, somehow ends up right back where it was before. Kicked down, you find yourself in those brief moments, pausing, to even stand up once more for fear you’ll end up right back in that same place. The fight then for many becomes too much to bear and the hope for a better day is lost yet again.

Why is it that God can cast our sins into the sea of forgetfulness when we’ve done wrong, but we can’t seem to forget ourselves? We force our hand at our own justice, causing the beauty of hope to run dry. I have found that the risk you run in tearing people’s sins out from under the blood is very dangerous. You in turn create a long dark road for yourself to walk down. For by the same measure of judgment you cast, so will you too be judged. So please, don’t let your love grow cold when there is a world so in need of some sunshine.

So often we find ourselves disappointed in people. It’s as if they couldn’t do “this” good enough and there’s “that,” which is just way out of line. We get so upset and find that the let down can be overwhelming. Why do people constantly seem to let us down?

I have found that no matter the who or the what we deal with, each carries undeniable levels of expectations. Our boyfriend or girlfriend should be a certain way; our pastors another; and our families, well they carry obvious responsibilities. However, we can only blame ourselves for the disappointment we feel, as we are guilty of assigning people certain degrees we expect them to live up to. When they don’t, and most of the time they won’t, the resulting emotion is extremely unsettling. No matter how great someone is, no matter the esteem we hold them to, no matter what they’ve done, or even where they’ve been, puts them above our expectations.

The higher you put someone on a pedestal, the harder the fall, not only for you but for the other person. You are essentially setting yourself up for a most certain heartache when you have expectations for people. No one is perfect and as surely as they stand, they too can fall. Sometimes we can be so quick to judge that we forget that just as easily could have been us. So, if you want to help alleviate the pain, take people off the pedestal you’ve created for them, and replace them with the one person that has never fallen and never will.