To forgive is Divine

I do not know what’s happening, but for a month now, I have been reading a lot on forgiveness. At church, we learn of forgiveness, I read about forgiveness and all these things are not intentional. I just meet them, and you know what, I was assigned to give a talk on Forgiveness at church too.

In the recent book I read, there was a chapter on forgiveness alone. Dr. Clarissa stated four levels of forgiveness she has used in her work with traumatized people over the years. Each level has different layers.

The four stages of forgiveness are:

To forego-to leave it alone

To forebear- to abstain from punishing

To forget- to aver from memory, to refuse to dwell

To forgive- to abandon the debt

In my research to write the talk for church, I learnt that if you are having trouble forgiving another person or even yourself, ask God to help you. Forgiveness is a glorious, healing principle. We do not need to be a victim twice. We can forgive.

It’s just as simple as that.

I am so glad to be learning about forgiveness at this time of my life. First, I wondered why I was coming across this topic, but it’s all good. Maybe, I will seriously need it in the future.

I also want to write that, if someone has offended you without the offender knowing, and it hurts you so much, confront the person, point it out, and let the person know about it.  It’s better that way, rather that harbouring it in your heart yet smiling at the person in public. It’s poison. Let it out and let the person know. If he/she apologizes, thank goodness. If he/she does not, clear the person out of your way. In the end, forgive him/her. You have done your part. Now, you can smile.

Here is a little piece I wrote about forgiveness in my writer’s journal

FORGIVENESS

Sometime, I am grateful you exist

Other times, I wish there was nothing like you

It’s very difficult to forgive some people

The hurt cocooned my heart, I could barely breathe

But, in the end, you are very essential

Very necessary, very useful, very beneficial

Because you teach me inner peace

And you teach me to get rid of negative sentiments

I need someone to forgive me too

I need someone to forget my silly mistakes

And I need to forgive that someone

Every time, I am grateful you exist

Other times, I wish you were always around

Go out there, and forgive someone.

Thank you for reading.