Forgiveness

Hey friends, a little disclaimer here: I wrote this post two years ago and kept it hidden away until I found it last week. IT was incredibly heavy on my heart then, and super relevant now, so I think it’s time to share. Let me know what you think! 

 

Forgiveness is such a weird thing. If you’re in a position where you find yourself needing or wanting to forgive someone, that means that they’ve done something to hurt you. They’ve caused pain in your life, whether it is a small scratch on the surface of your heart, or a deep laceration straight into your soul. Pain is pain. None of us enjoy it. We all want it to go away. Some people believe the way to make that ache escape us is to cut the person who caused the ache out of our life. That might work for a hot minute, but I promise you that it won’t be the most fulfilling healing process. True, genuine, complete healing begins when we forgive.

Forgiving someone doesn’t mean the pain never happened. It doesn’t make the current moment any better than it is, but it’ll make your future so much lighter and brighter. When you take the opportunity to forgive someone who has done you wrong, you open the door to building stronger relationships and the chance to replace the negative memories with positive and lasting memories.

You see, we forgive because we are forgiven. We learn by example. Our Holy Father has taught us that forgiveness is such a blessing, and such an opportunity. Every day, constantly, he is forgiving us for our wrongdoings. No matter how many times we mess up, he continues to love us all the same. When we sin, his heart aches. Not because we have hurt him, but because he wants so badly for us to do better. He see’s so much potential in us. He knows that we are capable of so much more than whatever situation we are stuck in. He forgives us eagerly, every chance he gets. When we reach out to him and ask for forgiveness, his heart bursts with that forgiveness and love without a second thought.

Why can’t we be the same way? Instead of seeing the negative things people have done to us, why can we not believe that those people are worth so much more than their downfalls? Why can’t we see the potential in people to learn and grow from their mistakes, rather than wallow in the pain?

Forgiveness is hard. It’s so hard. I get that. But The Lord won’t cause us pain without allowing something beautiful to grow from that pain. We just have to take that first step towards becoming more like Jesus. Loving more like Jesus. Forgiving more like Jesus.

With all the love,

A