Not too long ago, I toured The Independent newspaper office in Robertsdale, Alabama. It was a busy little hive buzzing with a friendly crew. I smiled, waved hello and was led through a maze of cubicles until I reached the pinnacle of my tour: the printing presses. Busy, intricate machinery was lined tidily in a spacious industrial-looking room. Amid the pleasant hum of the equipment, I thought amusedly, “We’ve come a long way since the Gutenberg.”

The knowledgeable men who worked the presses kindly explained the printing process to me. My fascination, however, was sharply interrupted when one of the men warned with a big grin, “You’ll want to be careful ‘round the equipment. This printing ink’ll stain. And, it can jump off the presses just to get ya’, too!”

Immediately, I noticed the ink that spotted his hands and clothing and then I looked down at what I was wearing – my favorite white, linen blazer. In my mind, I let out a very melodramatic, “Aghhhhh!” I brought my arms in a little bit closer to my side and navigated gingerly through what now felt a little bit like a minefield. I was determined to make it through that room unspotted by the dark inkiness that suddenly seemed everywhere.

Happily, I survived.

Weeks later, during my Bible study time, that experience in the white blazer became a personal parable to me. It’s amazing how many profound biblical truths are highlighted in our ordinary lives through, what I call, ‘personal parables’. If we’ll keep our spiritual eyes open and our minds fixed on heavenly things, we can see the deep and extraordinary in the everyday. The Holy Spirit is a good and ever-ready teacher, who desires to elevate our understanding of God, Scripture and our place in the big scheme of things. We must simply remain hungry, teachable and near the Word.

I pondered this beautiful, albeit, challenging passage in Romans: “Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: ‘If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.’ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” (Romans 12:17-21, NIV)

These verses address intense human experiences: anger, vengeance, selflessness, holy constraint and forgiveness .The most resonating theme, to me, was love. Mother Theresa once said, “We are called upon to do great things with love.” One of those ‘great things’ is forgiveness. We are called upon to love so deeply that we are able to forgive with no desire to repay our injuries. Proverbs 10:12 (NIV) puts it this way: “Love covers all wrongs.” That is true of Christ’s redemptive work on the cross and it is true of the forgiveness we extend to others. Love is what keeps our hearts purged of the dark muck that is born and festers in unforgiveness.

I thought of my white blazer. Surrounded by those presses during the tour, I was vulnerable to the marring of very black printing ink. Similarly, a sort of darkness surrounds you and me. We live in a world where people can betray us, lie to us, demean us, abuse us or neglect us. There are countless ways to be hurt and we are vulnerable. But our challenge, as saints of God clothed in white, is to walk through the hurts of this world without letting them blacken us. With God’s grace, we must determine that we will love deeply, forgive lavishly and make it though the minefield unspotted by the darkness.

Liz Miller lives in Daphne with her husband Matt and son, Logan. She looks forward to responding to your thoughts, prayer requests and guest speaker invitations, please write to millerfam3@hotmail.com.