Coincidence?

We had our cell group at Coffee Beanery & Tea Leaf (Greenbelt) yesterday night. Last monday, our meeting was postponed due to the transport strike. I was happy to be able to attend cell again and to be with Chay, Ms. Miget and 3 other friends (Lujene, Shiela and Ana).

I had to order Chai latte tea to soothe my throat. I was on the verge of having colds. I really don't like the feeling in my throat. I even lost count already how many times I sneezed. =(
Thanks to the tea, I felt a little better.

Chay lead our discussion. Our topic for the past weeks was about the 10 commandments. Last night, we're already on the 6th commandment. The title of our lesson was "Anger, Hatred and Murder". Quite a sensitive and heavy topic, huh.

We were able to share with one another some situations that caused us to be angry and even kill those people we hate in our minds. We also mentioned what we usually do or how we usually react when we are angry. Hmmm... we had interesting stories to tell!

Our lesson was indeed very applicable to each one of us, especially when it comes to dealing with people and relationships - family, relatives, friends, colleagues, strangers, etc. Chay shared some verses and explained how God is really not pleased when we plant hatred and nurture anger in our hearts towards other people. Too bad, I wasn't able to take notes so I can't include here the specific points we discussed. Hopefully, I can borrow our workbook from Chay and I'll add those points here tomorrow. Overall, we had a great discussion and the lesson really pierced into each one's heart.

Our cell usually ends with what we call the "application question". Last night, the question was "Do you have any hate/anger towards a person. why? what will you do about it?"

As the first person in our group was sharing her answer, a man occuppied the table beside ours. The man looked familiar to me. I looked at him and he was also looking at me. He seemed to be hesitating to greet me so I smiled and waved at him. Well, I couldn't be wrong. He's my professor back in college - he's one of those I used to hate before.

I won't narrate anymore why I was angry at him during my thesis days. That was a kinda long story and besides that's past already. But if you really want to know, you can ask my thesis mates, Tabel and Joy. They'd be happy to tell you about it. hehehe...

Then it was my turn to answer the application question. No, it wasn't about my professor that I shared about. (hehehe) Not just because he's sitting right next to our table, but because honestly, I've already forgiven him. I just choose not to plant hatred nor nurture my anger anymore.

As I left the coffee shop, I even passed by him and had a little chat. I was happy that I could just talk to him that way, without feeling any heaviness in my heart. He even gave me a handshake as we parted.

Now, going back to my question... was that just coincidence? Hmm.. maybe not. I think it was God's way of reminding me about the importance of forgiveness and another equally important thing - forgetting.