Wednesday 2 January 2008

Forgiveness

One thing that I have learned that I am constantly having to come back to is forgiveness. To learn to forgive is hard, but great a gift. When I asked a good friend of mine once what the most important thing in his life was, his reply was simply forgiveness. When struggling with the difficulties of life, it is easy to project blame onto other people, in order to relieve yourself of having to deal with yourself. Personally, I am rubbish at holding grudges. I have been betrayed many times, by people I believed to be my best friends, but I have forgiven them, and they remain, to this day, some of my best friends.

The dictionary states that to forgive is:
1. to grant pardon for or remission of (an offense, debt, etc.); absolve.
2. to give up all claim on account of; remit (a debt, obligation, etc.).
3. to grant pardon to (a person).
4. to cease to feel resentment against: to forgive one's enemies.

It was that last one that got me. To cease to feel resentment against... it has been easy for me in the past to say, "I forgive you" to people. But those words had to become action. In order for me to really release that pain that was felt when I was betrayed, I had to embrace that person and become friends with them again. Become good friends. In this world, in this day and age, there are so many who will try to put me down, to make me feel worthless, just so that they may get ahead. I do not want to waste time arguing with those to whom I have an emotional attachment.

It's a New Year. I am going to make new start. Let go of old grievances and old disaggreements. Make peace with old friends, smile and laugh with them like I have done before. Maybe its a good time to think about whether you could do the same.

1 comment:

Sally said...

Are you trying to steal my dictionary definitions?! Back-off!
But, I forgive you ;-)
X