Forgiveness

19 Jul

“The key to forgiveness is to forgive from the heart – not from the mind.”
~ Sheri Rosenthal

We have all been hurt by others.  We may have suffered rejection.  We may have been blamed for things that we did not do.  We may have experienced the betrayal of someone whom we considered close to us.  Those moments often colored our perception of life and contributed to the way we treated others.

We may have become less trusting, less open, less understanding, and less forgiving.  We may have lived with the sores and scars of encounters and allowed those wounds to fester and become raw.

In short, some of our experiences may have turned us into people filled with negativity.  All because we failed to forgive.

That’s right.  Because we failed to forgive.

I know that many might say, “Why should I forgive?!  It is the other person who has harmed me or wronged me.  It is the other person who has destroyed my trust or my reputation.  It is the other person.”

That very well may be.  However, we cannot control the other person, can we?  The only one we have any power over is ourselves.

Most any priest, psychologist, or social worker would say the same thing:  unless a person can forgive those who have wronged him or her, that person will not be able to heal.  In order to forgive, we must do so from the heart.

Our head may tell us to remember what happened.  That is not a bad thing.  Our head will guide us to make sure that we do not allow that kind of thing to happen again.  But our heart has the capacity to forgive.  The very first moment we forgive another from the heart, healing will begin.

It really is that simple.

FAITH ACTION:  Call to mind the person/people you need to forgive and make a conscious attempt to forgive them from the heart.