The other day I was talking with my wife and shared with her that I could prove from the Bible that God is Italian.  You see, while my family has told me that my surname is German, some people have also told me that it is Dutch, and others have even told me that it is Afrikaans; therefore, I am not completely sure which it is.  However, I do know for sure that my grandfather and my great grandfather and all other grandfathers of my grandfather on my mother’s side of the family, well, to say it proudly, they are FBI – Full Blooded Italian.  Now whenever I bring up my Italian heritage with my wife, she expresses a little umbrage over the matter because I think the simple truth is that she’s a little envious of my Italian roots… 🙂

But nonetheless, one morning after my personal devotions in the book of Psalms, the revelation came to me that God most definitely had to be Italian and with such profound revelation bursting inside, I just had to share it with my wife.

“Honey, you would have never thought about it, but I can prove from the Bible that God is Italian!”

“God is not Italian and neither are you” she responded rather smartly as I could still sense a little envy coming over her…but I had to share my extraordinary theological revelation anyway. 

“It’s true baby. You know how Italians in New York end their sentences with ‘Think about it’ (New York accent emphasized)?  Well, God must be Italian because He does the same thing in the book of Psalms.”

So she thought about it…and then she said, “The Italians in New York don’t say ‘Think about it.’  They say ‘Forget about it’ and if you’re Italian, you should do the same.”

So I thought about it and came to the same conclusion.  God has to be Italian because not only does He say ‘Think about it’ at the end of His sentences, but also, after we confess our sins to Him, He forgives us, He cleanses us, and then He says…‘Forget about it!’ 🙂

Isaiah 43:25 “I [God], even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins.”

Now obviously, I’ve had some fun with this post and please know that my wife actually does love and appreciate my Italian heritage as well as every other ethnic part of my heritage; however, there are some important leadership insights that I would like to highlight with this playful leadership post.

Leadership Insights:  

1)      Let us enjoy who God created us to be because we are valued by Him.

2)      Let us not take ourselves too seriously because life is too short to live it without any fun.

3)      Let us laugh when it is time to laugh because laughter is good for the heart and soul.

4)      Let us forgive others and ‘forget about it’ because the Lord does the same for us. 

Forget About It Copyright 2010, The Make It Happen Learning Institute.  You have permission to reprint the leadership article, Forget About It, in its entirety only, and forward to your colleagues and friends, provided the copyright notice remains part of the reprint and transmission.  All other rights reserved.