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Today's
Meditation:
Over and over in life, we're called to forgive someone
else for something that they've done. Over and over
in life, we hope that other people will forgive us for
something that we've done. So much of what we do is
done in carelessness and ignorance that it's little wonder
that forgiveness is so often necessary-- and if we're not
ready and willing to forgive and to accept the forgiveness
of others, then we're setting ourselves up for some very
hard times, and we're pulling ourselves out of and away
from peace of mind and peace of spirit.
Most things that need forgiveness are not done in a spirit
of meanness or anger. They aren't done with the
intent to hurt or to damage. They're simply done
because someone doesn't think before they say or do
something, or because they're trying to impress another
person whom they think they need to impress. In
these cases, forgiveness is fairly easy, and we all move
on with our lives.
It does get more difficult to forgive a person, though,
when it's obvious that the harm done was
intentional. In these cases, we often lose our trust
of the other person, and we lose our desire to have
anything to do with the other person (if we even had it in
the first place). In these cases, though, it's
important that we keep in mind that our forgiveness is
something that is necessary to us, ourselves, if we're
ever to move on with our lives without dragging around a
ball and chain that weigh us down and keep us from living
our lives fully.
Personally, I find forgiveness to be difficult, but it's
that very difficulty that makes me pursue it more
strongly. I know that the difficult things in life
are often the most important, and if it's hard for me to
forgive, then I need to push harder to be able to
forgive. Life demands that we forgive, and peace of
mind and spirit is impossible if we're holding a simmering
pot of resentment inside our minds. Forgiveness is
one way that we can improve our mental and emotional state
significantly, and it's absolutely free, there for us to
access when we decide to.
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