To Forgive

On a particular day, as I was switching channels, I came across a movie with Whoopi Goldberg whose role in the movie was that of a woman whose husband had been killed. The scene at that moment was, Whoopi watching a news channel showing the person who had murdered her husband. Her children don’t understand how she can calmly watch the murderer with no anger towards him. On being questioned, she callmly eplains to them, what her husband had told her. Her answer is what changed my whole perspective on anger.

Her husband had told her, that you can be angry and bitter with a person and live your whole life with resentment. You could think of the ways you can get back at them. And what you have done, is lived a life filled with hate. The other person would have no idea whatsoever, of how you feel and would have lived a good life.

That is the moment, I realized, that Forgiveness is something that one needs to do, when someone hurts us. We have to choose to be not bitter, and choose to forgive.  Cherish each moment in life, as God's most precious gift.  Only when one has the capacity, to be able to rise above the hurts, can one truly forgive.  Life is filled with ups and downs. We need to forgive life’s short comings.

Forgive yourself; for the wrong things done, and what you possibly could have done, for not accepting yourself (what you could have been), and for being the person you were at the time. Justice may right the wrongs, but forgiveness heals the hurt.  Seek to forgive beyond justice.

Sometimes the people that could hurt you the most are the people, who are the closest to you. Sometimes the grief caused is way too much to handle. And there are instances, where everything just simply went against you. And you realized, that you mattered very little to the other person or persons. Anger causes resentment leading to hatred and will lead to self destruction. Choose to forgive.

Revenge will never right the wrongs done to you. It wont take away the humiliation that you faced. To refuse to forgive is to continue to hurt. Choosing to live a contemptuous life, your lack of forgiveness keeps you stuck in the zone of being a victim. A victim whose only identity is anger and contempt over everything.  Choose to forgive, choose love. Love overcomes everything. Only God, can and will heal the hurting heart.

Do not hold yourself in contempt, for the wrongs done. Every offense is forgivable– unless you choose not to. When you are having a difficult time forgiving someone, recall a moment when you wanted to be forgiven. Offer the other person what you so wanted to receive. That does not imply you tolerate injustice. It simply means forgive. Forgiveness, takes practice. I believe, that basically you practice a thing for 30 days and it becomes a habit. What I am saying is start with the small hurts and work your way up to the big ones. To forgive look within your heart and you will find the strength you need.

Finally, forgiveness is not something that you do for someone else; it is something that you do for yourself.  God guide you to this wonderful gift of FORGIVENESS.