Please Forgive Me

Any 'good Christian' learned from an early age, the value and power of forgiveness.  However, at an early age it is taught as something you do to be a good 'brother' or 'sister' to someone else.  You forgive others, because you would want them to forgive you.  The lesson is a good one, but the greater lesson is the importance of forgiveness in the lives of the person who is actually forgiving.

I have rekindled about four relationships recently.  Each one special in their own way, varying in levels of importance.  I had pretty much written all four off, thinking we had reached the point of no return.  What I discovered was, there is no need to 'return'.  Instead, forgiveness gave us a chance to move forward.  With each situation, I felt relieved, at peace and at rest once we reunited.  The restless feeling that can come with anger and the uncomfortable anxiety that accompanies hurt, subsided.  I remembered why I liked, or loved them in the first place.  And I moved forward.

I cannot say we will be at the same level we were when we left off, but the importance is each of them is one less person I have had to write off entirely.  They each represent one more person I can flex my maturity muscles with, by being the bigger person or following the lead when they are the bigger person.  The individual situations are proof that the initial effect of our 'fall-out' behavior has not really affected me in the long run.  Not negatively at least.  I have kept my stride.  Have I forgotten how things went down?  No. I probably never will.  But for the time being, I am taking it one day at a time, with the understanding that nothing last forever.  And 'forever' is what we make of it.  If I meet someone and spend a mere 20 minutes with them, that is our forever.  And that is okay.  Today, thinking of this lesson that has come with time, I feel fresher, lighter, freer.