Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Forgiveness

At Mass this past weekend, we heard scripture about how we need to forgive 70 times 7 (that's a whole lot of forgiveness).

It's not always easy to forgive. When I was young I was injured by a drunk driver. Once the bones healed, I was very angry. Mr. Drunk Driver was not remorseful (that I ever saw), nor was he brought to justice. I never rec'd any restitution. It was all unfair, and I could probably work myself up into a lather if I keep talking about it. Anyway, it took me well into adulthood to forgive him. It took me 20 YEARS to forgive. Forgiveness helped me move on. I had to wish him well in my heart. There was no purpose for me to continue with the anger. I just don't go down that angry road. Hopefully he did not/is not living out the rest of  his life in a drunken stupor and running over small people. That doesn't do him or anyone else any good.

Now, I have other people I need to forgive for various slights and other misdeeds and mistakes. I need to forgive people for their ignorant comments. I need to forgive certain people for not living up to my expectation even though I never stated these expectations. (I forgot people can't read minds).  I need to forgive them in my head and in my heart.

I need to know if one of my friends has forgiven me for something that happened this summer.

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