Day 55: Forgiveness Is

From time to time in my life, well . . . probably daily if I am honest, I am beckoned to forgive. Forgiveness can come in so many ways.

There's instant forgiveness.

Person 1: "Oh, I'm sorry I bumped your car with my door"
Person 2: "Oh that's okay."

Person 1: "Hey sorry. I took your stapler last Friday and totally forgot to return
it."
Person 2: "Oh no problem."


Then there is the kind that takes days to achieve. This is usually what happens when a married couple argues. It might take them a day or two to "practice forgiveness."

Then there is the kind that takes a really long time to achieve. Forgiving someone who has hurt you in a deep, deep way can seem almost impossible. But not forgiving often only compounds the injury, driving the hurt even deeper into our hearts and souls.

Not forgiving is bondage. If we want to be free from the torment and torture of it, we must choose to forgive, and in doing so, set ourselves free.

I think the reason we find it so hard to forgive such deep hurt is because we feel like it lets the one who has injured us off the hook. It feels like we're saying what they did to us didn't really happen. Of course it still happened! But holding it so close, bearing that memory with such weight . . . it only hurts us more.

However, knowing we must forgive and practicing it, so much harder. So how do we move forward, forgiving others and yet being okay with keeping up our guard so as not to get hurt again? That's a great question.

All that to say, forgiveness is . . . (so many words come to mind here, none appropriate to type.)