A boomerang is a wooden instrument designed so that when hurled it returns to the thrower. Another meaning for the word boomerang is, “To have the opposite effect from the one intended; backfire.” Now that you have read the definition of a boomerang, you probably wonder what was my point, right?
Matthew 7:1-5 “Don’t pick on people, jump on their failures, and criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It’s easy to see a smudge on your neighbor’s face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, ‘Let me wash your face for you,’ when your own face is distorted by contempt? It’s this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor. Matthew 7:12 “Here is a simple, rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Add up God’s Law and Prophets and this is what you get.
Encapsulated within the above scriptures you will find that Jesus is speaking and what he says proves that life is literally a boomerang, what you throw out comes back to you again. My dad used to paraphrase the scripture Ecclesiastes 1:11 Cast your bread upon the waters, for you will find it after many days, saying, “Cast your bread upon the waters for after many days it will return unto you pound cake!” He lived by that rule and I could honestly tell you that the acts of charity he did toward everyone, and I am not just talking about feeding the poor I am talking about the mercy he showed to people who treated him badly or slighted him by forgiving them completely and praying for their wellbeing. I asked him about it more than once and he would answer by telling me that God loved those people as much as He loved him or me. That was very hard for me to swallow as a young person but as I matured I knew he was telling the truth.
I was holding something in my heart, a bitterness about something that had been done to me, I never understood it, and I don’t believe I wanted to understand it; I would rather feel slighted so I could lick my wounds and use it as an excuse to be unhappy about the way my life turned out. I am not proud of that I am just being totally honest here. This week I got hit square in the heart by the boomerang of life as I sat and listened to someone say the very things to me about the way I had reacted in a similar situation that I had taken such offense about. My first reaction was that my feelings were hurt and I wanted to cry but was too proud to show it. It wasn’t until I was alone in my trusty old red van later driving down the road that the boomerang effect happened, I remembered what had happened to me and realized that it didn’t look any different on me than it had on someone else many years before. I had had all the right intentions and really thought I was acting in the best interest of all concerned, that wasn’t the way it was perceived.
Jesus gave us the best advice, better than anything I could say here by telling us to “do unto others as we would have them to do unto us”.
Harolene.com 