"I
wondered if that was how forgiveness budded,
not
with the fanfare of epiphany,
but
with pain gathering its things,
packing
up, and slipping away
unannounced in
the middle of the night."
Khaled
Hosseini, Kite Runner
Forgiveness
is not optional.
We
are to forgive as we have been forgiven.
Just
as Jesus forgave those who crucified Him.
"Father,
forgive them. They do not know..."
But
forgiveness is not natural.
It
goes against everything in us
that
cries out for fairness.
The
thing that we need to forgive
often involves pain--
from
the sting of an unkind word to the
deep
gash left by an abusive relationship.
We
are often left holding the pain,
knowing
the one whom we must forgive
will
likely not acknowledge nor ask for it.
While
we cannot afford to dwell on pain for too long,
we
cannot afford to ignore it either.
We
live in a fallen world where everyone
has
experienced the pain of wrong choices.
When
the wrong involves a violation of trust,
or
results in a life altering consequence,
it
can become even harder to forgive.
Then Peter
came to him and asked,
“Lord, how
often should I forgive someone
who sins
against me? Seven times?"
"No,
not seven times," Jesus replied,
"but
seventy times seven!"
Matthew
18:21-22
Sometimes
we must forgive over and over,
trusting
that our hearts will eventually catch up
with the
assent our heads have given.
I love that
quote in Kite Runner because
I think
that is often how our hearts join in.
We think it
will be some big moment where
we
experience the "fanfare of epiphany."
But one
day, we realize that our pain
has quietly
packed up and left.
Our head
and our heart become one again.
God works
in us through grace
to pull out
the stingers that wound us.
He is
gentle and He is kind,
and it often takes time to get them out
so that the healing leaves no scar.
We have a
responsibility to forgive,
even if it
is daily, seventy times seven.
He takes
our acts of obedience and
begins the
work of healing and restoring,
applying
balm to tender and wounded places.
"He heals the brokenhearted and
bandages their wounds...
His delight is in those who fear Him,
who put their hope in His unfailing love."
Psalm 147
Oh, the number of ways that
He is
always, always,
always good.
nice comments on the stinger of pain by whatever situations that may occur. it does take time for the heart to catch up with the head sometimes several years while the tweezers of God pulls the unknown slivers out of your soul.
ReplyDeleteray