The Lord's Prayer - And Forgive Us Our Trash Baskets

And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

Matthew 6: 12

For this verse, as with many verses of the Bible, translations vary, but the meaning stays about the same. The King James Version uses the wording I quoted about. Other versions use the word "trespasses" instead of "debts." "And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." This makes the four-year-old's interpretation somewhat logical: And forgive us our trash baskets as we forgive those who put trash in our baskets. And, as I figure, it still doesn't change the meaning much.

In life, we all have burdens to carry - trash baskets, if you will - and we sometimes ask God to help us carry them. The weight of our baskets depends on what's in them. Life puts trash in our baskets just because life is hard. And often, we foolishly put trash in our own baskets by sinning and making other foolish mistakes. And sometimes, people put more trash in our baskets because they're jerks, or they were simply insensitive and didn't think. From whatever source, trash keeps piling up in our baskets, and it's only natural for us to feel a little anger toward the people that put trash in our baskets (including ourselves).

Yet, the Lord has taught us to forgive and seek forgiveness. We must forgive ourselves, we must forgive those who have trespassed against us, we must seek forgiveness from those that we have trespassed against (willingly or accidentally), and we must seek forgiveness from the Lord, and here's why: Forgiveness lifts burdens.

So, a person wronged you. They put a big piece of smelly, heavy trash in your basket. It's quite an unpleasant burden to carry. But resentment, anger, and bitterness are another kind of burden - one that we put in our own baskets when we feel that people have trespassed against us. When we try to hold that burden over the offender's head, we're also putting more weight on our own shoulders. But if we forgive them, or at least try to, it may not get rid of the burden they placed on us, but it will get rid of the burden of resentment that we put on ourselves.

Forgiveness is also a good thing to pass on because it helps everybody. When we trespass against someone (especially including God), that places a burden of guilt and shame on our backs, but when they forgive us, the burden of our guilt is removed.

God loves us. He wants to forgive us. He wants to help us, and He wants us to help each other, and He certainly doesn't want us to pile up more trash in our own and everyone else's baskets. Sometimes trash just happens. Sometimes it's our fault, sometimes it's so-and-so's fault, sometimes it's nobody's fault. Whoever's fault it is, we'll only add to our burdens by blaming people for them. It will make our burdens lighter if we forgive the people who are responsible for them. And that includes forgiving ourselves. It won't take all of the burden away; there will always be more trash in our baskets, but at least it'll help make our burdens more bearable, and it may help other people bear up their burdens as well.