guilt is stupid

Really, that's about all I want to say. Guilt is so stupid. And, if you are a person who makes a habit of putting guilt trips on others. . . STOP IT. It is a terrible thing to do. And if you are a aprent who tries to manipulate your child by laying on guilt. . . STOP IT.
I believe that there is evil at work in the world. I believe there is a great deciever who is able to do great harm if we let him. And he is so good at what he does, he knows exactly how to get into our minds and our lives and we often don't even recognize him. I realized this week that i have allowed this crafty one to manipulate my mind into carrying loads of guilt. It has been weighing me down. I fear that I am disappointing my parents, I have guilt that I'm taking grandkids and moving them away from wonderful grandparents, I'm bogged with guilt for taking my kids away from other family and friends. And the list goes on. Well, I am letting go of that guilt. I will always LOVE and HONOR our parents. I will always love and serve my children. But, I have proclaimed one Lord over my life. And I know that he is calling our family to do some work for his kingdom. And, I need to stop feeling like I will be able to make everyone happy along the way. That might not be possible. And, that is not my responsilbity. And Timm pointed out to me that we have been given INCREDIBLE families. And, it IS honoring them for us to use our lives to serve God. What better gift can we give our parents than for them to know that because of their model, we feel like we have a rock solid marriage and can boldly go out and serve other families and sacrifice things along the way. Because of the lessons they have taught us, we feel like we can truly make a difference in the world. I hope they know that there is no bigger way we could show them honor than to lay down our lives for God and take up a life of being his humble servants.
So, guilt is stupid. And if you are inflicting it on yourself. . . STOP IT. And, on the other hand, if you need to ask forgiveness because the guilt is over something you've done. . . you need to deal with that. Guilt will eat you alive. It will destroy your relationships.