She wrote:
People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyways.
If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.
What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.
Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.
In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.
Wow! What powerful and inspirational words from this wonderful woman of God.
A challenge we must accept is how we treat others. We can come up with thousands of reasons why we should not treat others with love and honor and respect but there is one more powerful reason why we should love them. And to illustrate this point I will steal from a man even more wise than Mother Theresa.
In Matthew's Gospel, we read of Jesus telling a parable entitled, "The parable of the Unforgiving servant."
Jesus tells this parable in response to the words of Peter. Peter thought he was wise by telling Jesus that he thinks its wise to forgive 7 times. In the First Century the most forgiving people would forgive up to the max of 3 times. So when Peter proclaimed, "7" he declared over double he was willing to forgive.
Jesus says 77 times or 7 times 70 depending on the translation of Scripture. Jesus describes what he means in the parable.
He said, "Suppose there is a servant who owes the king 10,000 talents (it was a form of currency). Just think a lot of money. A sum that was unpayable by a servant. The debt was too large. The servant begged the king to not charge him and throw him and his family in prision. And the crazy thing is: The king listened! He set him free.
After this occurred: The same servant, who was just forgiven a large amount of money, found someone who owed him money. He demanded that this man who owed him a lot less money pay up. When he couldn't the first servant throw this second servant in jail.
When the king found out about this he was not very happy. The king couldn't understand how the servant could be so unforgiving after he was forgiven of so much.
Jesus makes a connection between how we have been forgiven by God to how this servant was forgiven by the king. Yet many people in the First Century and now in the 21st Century do not like to forgive.
Jesus is reminding us that we have been forgiven much and therefore we should forgive much. Once we understand how much God has forgiven us we can begin to show that forgiveness and unconditional love to others.
This isn't a plead to be a doormat. This isn't a plead to let people walk over you. But it is a plead to be free. To be free from the opinion of what others say about you. To be free to show them the love of Jesus.
Remember what Mother Theresa said, "People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway."
Because "In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."
May you and I learn to love. May you and I learn to forgive. Even when people choose not to change how they treat you because in the end it isn't between you and them, it is between you and God.
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