Sunday, September 19, 2010

Speaking of Forgiveness

    So if you live like you are dying, chances are, forgiving or asking forgiveness is on your list of things to do. I remember a doctor telling me once that it didn’t matter to him why aspirin worked, only that it did work. Forgiveness does too. It relieves the suffering of the person carrying the grudge and of the person who seeks forgiveness and is forgiven. The ancient edicts of biblical forgiveness are like aspirin to our suffering. However, science is now telling us why it works. Psychological studies are showing us that when we are merciful we increase our well-being.
Left to right: Vince, Monita, and Rob A. singing
about living like you're dying
    Our bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit and in our temple is sacred energy for doing sacred work. When we use that energy to hold a grudge, we are blocking the work of the Divine through us. In our small group, we pondered the question, just what does forgiveness look like? We spoke of the Amish school shooting and how the Amish immediately came to sit beside the wife of the person who shot the children. We spoke of Nelson Mandela and how while he was in prison, he couldn’t keep a security guard for a long period of time because he showed such compassion that the guards could not keep their edge and the guards would be replaced. We spoke of the Bible story in which Esau forgave Jacob for taking his blessing and birthright. We spoke of the new crop of forgiveness gardens that are growing and people who consciously cultivate compassion and forgiveness. Monita is pictured here with baby’s breath, the flower that represents everlasting love. John Fetzer, founder of the Fetzer Institute for Love and Compassion, wrote, "Love is the core energy that rules everything, love is the one ingredient that holds us all together." What will you do to cultivate love and forgiveness? We often need to forgive ourselves, taking an aspirin of self-compassion to relieve our own suffering.




1 comment:

  1. How true this is in such a a self-evident way. I'm glad you shared this post with me in a FB message. I seem to have missed it if you shared publically at Facebook and I've not kept up with 'bookmarked' sites because I've been busy with other things. Do let me know when you publish again because I love what you share. Sigh ... I haven't yet figured out how to set up an ID for Giraffe Journals but it's on my 'to do' list. I'm signing in with my 'Blogger' ID because it's simplest.
    Hugs and blessings,

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