Forgive Us, Our Trespasses

as we forgive those who trespass against us....

Can you imagine if God did that?

Yesterday I was reading the sermon on the mount for the umpteenth time and, as you all know, that is when Jesus taught us not only about the Beatitudes but also the proper way to pray to our Father. Today, I heard a beautiful homily about love, mercy and the power of forgiveness.  Jesus was very clear in His teachings about forgiveness, mercy and judgment. He wasn't fooling around when he said judge ~ lest you be judged. He wasn't kidding around when Peter asked him, "Lord, how many times should I forgive my brother who has sinned against me? Up to seven times?" The Lord answered, "I tell you not just seven times but seventy times seven." (That's because to infinity and beyond wasn't coined yet). We are called to forgive others; ALL those that have sinned against us, time and time again. It really doesn't have an expiration date, except for yours, and trust me when I say at that point it's too late generally.

It occurred to me that the Our Father is really a prayer that shows the incredible faith that God has in humanity when he creates us in our Mother's wombs and puts us on this earth. The words that we utter in that glorious prayer are an oath to God that we WILL forgive everyone,  just as He forgives us. We will love them all just as He loves us and we will do that for not only our friends and family but our enemies as well. When we utter that prayer we are making a promise to God that we will forgive them for the nit picky sins against us, the medium-sized sins and the mega, earth shattering stuff as well.

Can you imagine what it would be like if God actually did forgive us the way that we forgive others? Holy Moly, we would be in big trouble. God sees all and knows what we are going to do before we do it. The very good news is that God does forgive us our trespasses even though we are not very adept at forgiving others. All we have to do is ask God for forgiveness, with a sincere and contrite heart.

May we ALL strive to live up to the oath that we pray to our Father. Let us lift up our hearts and minds to Him and truly forgive those that have trespassed against us. May they do the same for us. God has faith in us all to do just that.

Peace,

Mare

Celebrities, Sales, Ethics and Third Parties

I came across a rather disturbing note today from "Lady Grey" jewelry to Ivanka Trump. I found it in incredibly poor taste but decided it is a jumping board for me to address our own ethics, philanthropy, and information sharing when it comes to our customers.

First, I will say that we have had "celebrity" customers shop with us in the past. I do not believe in name dropping to promote our business. Celebs are just regular people and just like everyone else. We respect everyone's privacy. Of course, we would welcome their feedback or endorsement, but we would not actively pursue them to do so. We definitely would not post a personal note to any of our customers on social media. That is a very unethical form of advertising.

Second, we will not share your feedback, notes of thanks (to or from us), or endorsements on any of our business pages without your absolute consent.

We do not share your personal information. As a matter of fact, there isn't any place on our website to store that information. All orders are placed through a shopping cart with Paypal, which is a secure site, and they do not share your information either. If you do provide your contact info to us on the website, we rarely, if ever, send you marketing emails. It is used specifically to follow up with you on a question or comment and that is as far as it goes. We do not sell, nor share, any customer contact information with third parties.

As far as eBay sales go, we only have access to shipping information. All correspondence must be conducted through that site so that Ebay can monitor it. Ebay is a secure site to do business through and they do not share personal information with third parties. Feedback, good or bad, cannot be altered, by us, so what you see is actual customer testimonial.

As for donations, Glory Glory Gifts has a few things that your purchases support. It is our goal to promote prayer and unity between our brothers and sisters in Christ through social media and the products that we sell. It is also our goal to support our brothers and sisters, that are still living in the Holy Land, that have been affected by the downturn in tourism. They support themselves by creating the olive wood, crystal, and Armenian pottery products that we offer for sale. Your purchase from us puts food on their tables and a roof over their head.

That's it. You can shop with us with confidence. Keep smiling, have a grand day, and let's go shopping! http://www.gloryglorygifts.com.

Peace,

Mare