The Peacegiver

Dustin had to give a lesson to Colby's class yesterday on forgiveness. In his research and studying on the topic he read this book. Because he knows me so well, he recommended it to me. I have a problem with hanging onto grudges, being judgmental, and having a hard time forgiving others. This book was wonderful! There were parts of it that shocked me because it described me so accurately and that was a little disturbing. It described the act of judging others as being "flattered by Satan," because as I'm judging others I'm really making myself feel better because of their shortcomings. I don't want to feel better because of Satan's flattery. One of the tips it gave was that I need to replace those negative thoughts with something....anything! So, I've come up with the idea that when I feel tempted to judge somebody, I'm going to think about an Elvis movie. That should give me plenty of footage to run through, and it's someting I enjoy thinking about. I'm hoping that if I can really focus on replacing those thoughts for a while, someday they will just be replaced on their own, and then eventually go away. Ah...the path to self-improvement is a long winding road!