Forgiveness Will Set You Free

Throughout our lives we encounter people whom have treated us unfairly, harmed us, or abused us.  The feelings we bear as a result of this injustice is poisonous to our souls.  Many of us carry the resentment for years or even a lifetime. 

I can certainly relate to harboring poison as I have endured some pretty horrible events and people in my life.  I have been hurt, abused and treated unfairly. My automatic reaction was to defend my character with what I call the “enemy”.  My thought was “how dare they attack my character they do not even know what the truth is, or this is not fair.”   Much of my time was wasted trying to justify to my enemy the truth, complaining to anyone who would listen and would even try to discredit those whom were my enemy.  I used to be quite vengeful to my enemy and was always plotting on how to get them back, or make them pay for the injustice.

As the years went on I was unable to forgive nor forget the enemies I crossed path with and there were many. There is an old saying that goes forgive, but not forget, and I did live with philosophy for a long time.  This is kind of an oxymoron because if you truly forgive then you should also forget and bury the past and let it stay there.  One of my greatest quotes is “If we could go back and change the past we would, but the past is the past and it should remain there.”

I used to be that arrogant person feeling I was better than others and only gave respect to people whom I thought were deserving because of their stature or their position.  Forgiving was probably one of the most difficult obstacles to overcome.  However I now realize that the arrogant person is weak and a humble person is strong.  A humble person will always apologize first, they will value other opinions and not offer their opinion.  A humble person will treat everyone with the same fairness and respect regardless of their financial status.  They understand that we are all good at something and focus on others strengths and not their weaknesses.  A humble person is spiritually healthy and they are non-judgmental, but most of all they are true forgivers.

I was able to jump over to humility and realize that it is not up to me to right the wrong, ensure fair treatment, oppose opinions and complain.   All I need to do is put my trust in God and understand that he will take care of my enemies.  This is probably  the greatest spiritual healing I have embraced upon my spiritual journey.  I mean God forgives everyone right? And not forgiving is a sin, but more importantly it is a poison with in our soul and will continue to eat away our soul as time continues. Forgive and pray for your enemies and set yourself free!  To be free is to be happy.