Forgiveness

Knock,Knock,Knock... Who could it be? When I peeped outside the window, the past was the one standing there, knocking at my door and as the saying goes "When the past comes knocking, don’t answer, it doesn't have anything new to say."

As I was reaching for the door, I kept telling myself, I have two choices before me... 1. To open the door  2. To ignore his knock and just pretend there's no one home.

"I'm really sorry" He said. I stared and looked at him, not sure of what had heard. He repeated it "I'm really sorry, really" It took him a year to utter these words. He continued by asking "Will you forgive me?"

At that moment, I smiled and told him I forgave you a year ago. From his facial expression I could tell that my words had shocked him. So I repeated, "I forgave you a long time ago. I needed to move on with my life and forgiving you helped me do exactly that." 

As we kept on talking, I came to realize forgiveness is important for anyone to move forward in life. Most importantly forgiveness is for ourselves and never for the person who hurt us. When our loved ones hurt us, freedom from our past is what we all seek and the only way we can achieve this is by forgiving the person who hurt you.

  

No one ever said forgiveness is easy and it's a battle we all fight. Personally have been there and when I was going through that difficult time, I had to choose on whether to forgive him or not. I kept asking myself; how will forgiving him heal my wounds?

Lewis B. Smedes wrote in his book, Forgive and Forget, "When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself."

Forgiveness is not something you do for someone else; it's something you do for yourself. Once you forgive, you feel free. Freedom and forgiveness go hand in hand. When we make that important decision we eventually forget the past, the reason we cried and the memories slowly start to fade. It brings a kind of peace that helps you go on with life.

There is no formula to forgiveness. No matter how you go about it, choosing to forgive will likely prove a worthwhile endeavour. If you are faced with having to forgive someone or in the future you find yourself in such a dilemma just remember, we are the ones who suffer most when we choose not to forgive. 

Matthew 6:14-16
For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.