PERILOUS EVENTS=INFINITE BONDS Have you ever known people or have struggled with relationships that just seemed to stay so superficial, manipulative, or just plain frustrating. "I'm sorry" is never heard, felt or expressed. Why can't certain people love us unconditionally or act with gratitude, rejoice in our successes or help us up when we fall. Why do some have this huge capacity to love when others, well, let's just say...are missing the chip! I was reading one of my devotionals and a verse struck me right between the eyes! Luke 7:36-50 "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." I have to admit I scratched my head a few times and then it hit me! If you haven't read my Crocodile infested water story...this would be a good time to stop and read it....or just read any story of how people were saved in life altering rescue. I listened intently as people described how they were rescued and how they felt about their rescuers. Listen closely, the depth of their emotions are powerful, their appreciation and gratitude so deep and meaningful, and the bond between the rescued and rescuer so deep that many continue life time relationships. The bond that I have with the people who survived our sunken boat and the rangers who rescued us is so difficult to understand because I haven't spoken to them since the incident, but the bond is deep! Lives are altered, relationships cherished, the big issues of yesterday fade into the gift of the now and the giver of the gift. The gift of survival because someone cared enough to grab you from the grip of death..sacrificially gave up their safety and sometimes their life for yours. Which brought me again square in the face of the truth of my relationships. People who are forgiven little, love little. How do these relate? If you have ever been like me and thought I was beyond a misstep because I made great decisions, then fell flat on your face and hit concrete, your love for the people who picked you up and cleaned your wounds is so much deeper than before the fall. Your appreciation for their lack of judgment, condemnation, scolding brought you to a place of healing and depth of relationship you never had before. I turned a corner with Jesus when I realized that in my greatest failures He brought me His greatest forgiveness, which in turn opened up the floodgates of love for in my failure he sought me out, picked me up and loved me. How do you not have depth of love for someone who gave a perfect life up for me? Great failure brings great forgiveness, and a special bond of love so much deeper because of my experience. This brings me back to those difficult relationships. Many people such as narcissists, perpetual victim mentality people, martyr types or pharisees (those who have it all together), or unhealthy emotional people just don't need forgiveness much if at all because they don't, can't or refuse to want to see their failure as an opportunity for a greater love relationship with the greatest love of all...WHEN WE FAIL, WE ASK FOR FORGIVENESS, A DEEPER GRATITUDE EXISTS AND A DEEP LOVE BOND DEVELOPS SOMETIMES WITH THE ONE HURT, OTHER TIMES WITH THE ONE THAT LOVES US DEEPER THAN THE DEPTH OF OUR FAILURE. WE WALK WITH A NEW CONFIDENCE AND ASSURANCE.  People who cannot forgive...cannot love....they are polar opposites and cannot coexist..forgive...don't keep drinking the poison and expecting someone else to die.