Forgiveness

We attach our feelings to the moment when we were hurt, endowing it with immortality. And we let it assault us every time it comes to mind. It travels with us, sleeps with us, hovers over us while we make love, and broods over us while we die. Our hate does not even have the decency to die when those we hate die–for it is a parasite sucking OUR blood, not theirs. There is only one remedy for it. Forgiveness.-Lewis B. Smedes

Today the word that I am meditating on is FORGIVENESS. It is the first word to come into my mind and so I am paying attention to it. I know that in order to continue growing and to continue healing, we must forgive ourselves and forgive all those who have hurt us.

We must forgive if we want to free ourselves of the pain of our past and heal our wounds. Forgiveness means that you have made the decision to stop being angry at someone. Forgiveness allows us to move forward so that we can live happy, healthy, and productive lives; moving forward means letting go. You can’t move forward when you have chains and shackles holding you back.

Forgiving is never easy, but it is necessary for our healing and growth. Healing may not be so much about getting better, as about letting go of everything that doesn’t serve us – all of the expectations, all of the beliefs – and becoming who we are destined to be.

Letting go of anger and forgiveness are one and the same. The reason we don’t forgive is because we are angry and we are taking something personally. We believe someone deliberately did something to us and that we are a victim. The truth is, that people only hurt others because they are acting out their own inner wounding. Much of which occurred when they were children. As adults, we carry those wounds with us because we have never forgiven all those in our past that have hurt us.

Today, forgive yourself for doing all of the things that dishonored who God intended you to be. Forgive yourself for not living up to your fullest potential. Forgive yourself for hurting and disappointing those that you love, including yourself. Forgive yourself for allowing feelings of unworthiness to blind you of your true worth. Forgive yourself for ever doubting that you are great.

Forgive yourself for allowing others to disrupt your peace. Forgive those who you let into your life that were only a part of it to take from you and never to give. Forgive yourself for allowing them to use you. Forgive yourself for loving people who were never worthy of your love and forgive yourself for not loving those that were.

Forgive yourself for searching for someone to make you happy when all the while happiness resided within. Forgive yourself for not loving yourself enough to know that you deserved better. Forgive all those who have ever wished you harm or unhappiness. Forgive yourself for buying into others’ negative opinions of you. Forgive yourself for believing that you always had to be perfect when all you ever had to be was yourself.

Today the word that I am meditating on is FORGIVENESS. I practice forgiveness because it is essential for my spiritual and emotional well being. You should too!