Forgiveness...

Continuing on with our twelve days of "gifts" that we all can give to each other - gifts that won't cost us a thing...

On the eighth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me...FORGIVENESS.

Matthew 6:14
For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.

Why is it so hard to forgive someone that has truly hurt us? Because we are human. There are no miraculous spells we can say or a certain amount time that must pass that will make forgiveness come easier, either. When we are hurt to our core, we naturally want to protect ourselves – and we often feel that withholding forgiveness from someone insures our protection.

What we don’t seem to notice is this… Forgiveness is a gift that we can give ourselves. When we let go of our anger and bitter feelings toward someone else, we are freeing ourselves. Often times, the person that hurt us isn’t even aware of how we’ve been struggling with the pain they've caused us. In some cases, it may not be necessary for us to face the person again anyway. (Forgiving isn’t the same as forgetting, after all.)

So, maybe this Christmas season, you could open yourself to forgive someone that has wronged you in the past… or perhaps help someone that is struggling with this issue. The peace that follows can’t be described… I know because I forgave someone that hurt me very deeply in my past.