I met a young man at church this Sunday. Among some of things he was struggling with in his life which he shared with me was forgiveness. He was looking for forgiveness regarding people he had hurt in his life. My heart when out to him. I'm sure we all know the feeling of having hurt people. But I wondered if he, like many others was also struggling with the difficulty of forgiving himself. You see it seems that we never want to let ourselves off the hook too easily -- and that is a very good practice. Yet at the same time, how many of us carry around a lack of forgiveness to ourselves for the wrongs we have done others. It is often relatively easy to accept God's forgiveness (OK, that is definitely not always true!) and so much more difficult to forgive ourselves. With Lent approaching and the self-examination that usually accompanies this time in the life of the Church, don't forget to forgive yourself.
And pray for the young man I spoke to.
Easter III - Because He Lives
5 days ago
2 comments:
Oh, Robert, how true this one is. There are so many things God forgave me for eons ago that I've yet to give myself a free pass on!
I remember something my priest told me. He said, "You know, you run around mad at yourself and refusing to forgive yourself about this, but the truth is, it was never yours to forgive. God already did it. So you run around and refuse to forgive yourself, which sorta kinda means you are claiming to know better than God what's forgivable and what's not...so, uh...which one is the "transgression?" That thing you got forgiven for, or your inability to accept it?"
I had to admit he had a point!
Thanks Kirk. I think all of us have been there or are there still!
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