Loving forgiveness

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Col 3:16

Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another.
Rom. 12:10

After working with dogs for so many years, I find it amazing at how quickly they adapt to new surroundings. An abused dog can turn into a social butterfly; an outgoing dog can cower depending on the care he/she recieves.
The thing that strikes me through all this is the fact that a dog is ready and willing to forgive and forget past wrongs especially when given soemthing else to replace the behavior with. So why aren't people more willing to replace wrong behavior with better behavior? Why aren't people as ready to forgive or forget?
In the past few years, I have made some not so smart decisions and have wreaked havoc on my life. Now I am turning my life around and I find there are more discouraging people than encouraging people. People tend to be hesitant to listen when I talk about what I learned or when I want to give my opinion on a topic because I made the wrong decision before.
But isn't that the beauty of mistakes? Learning from your stupidness and then being able to share how God blessed you in spite of your humaness!
Recently people have made me feel like second chances aren't allowed, but I feel that God is all about second chances when we need them and in some cases third, fourth, and fifth chances. Think about it! If he only gave us one chance to do right none of us would make it! God readily forgives and forgets and encourages us to do better.
If God can be encouraging why can't people learn to be encouraging to a brother or sisiter who has stumbled. Wouldn't you prefer encouragers over doubting Thomas'?
Next time you are talking to someone who went through a rough patch, why don't you try words of encouragement instead of making them feel like they will never change and their past is what they are all about!
You never know what God is doing in their life! And if you can't find encouraging words try the Bible! It's full of them! Seriously, what's more encouraging than John 3:16? "For God So Loved The World He Gave His Only Begotten Son That Whosoever Believeth In Him Should Not Perish But Have Everlasting Life!"