A Truth Worth Trying On

Last week Steve reflected on the enormously tough but endlessly rewarding work of forgiving those who’ve messed with you. You get hurt. The hurt creates a wall. You can either live with the wall in place or you can do something about it. Be honest. Keep reaching out to the offender. Show the same patient compassion to others as God shows you. Forgive. Or else…

Or else? Yeah, there are consequences to not forgiving. They range from being mildly irritable to living a tortured life. And if the negative consequences are not enough to motivate you, try the positive: True forgiveness is so sweet, such a release, refreshing as a deep cleansing breath. Not to be missed.

With God’s help, and only with God’s help I’m afraid, forgiveness can become a way of life… a way we stray from, to be sure… but the Spirit keeps tugging on us to come back and taste its sweetness again. It can be downright habit-forming.

Forgiving those who’ve injured us is vital. But if you limit yourself to just forgiving the jerks around you, you’re missing out.

This week, try forgiving Life. Try forgiving God. Try forgiving the jerk you sometimes see in the mirror.

List your grievances. Call in your witnesses. Be honest to God. Dare to lay it all on the table. Write it down. Whine a little. Confess to a friend. Do whatever works for you to clean out the stuffed closet that holds all the times life has let you down or you have let yourself down.

Then let it go. With God’s help, let it all go. See God's image in the mirror instead. See God's grinning face when you look out at Life.

Then do it again tomorrow morning, too. Because forgiveness is a gift that keeps on giving. Trite as it may sound, it's the truth. A truth worth trying on.

Many of us visualize the never-drying-up well of forgiveness that is our God with the sign of the cross. All the grievances of all time can somehow fit on that cross.

It’s now a reflex action for me. When my waking-up toes touch the braided rug right next to my bed, my hand flies up to my forehead and down to my heart, across to my left shoulder and on to my right. I’ve sketched a cross upon my body, and I can’t get up out of bed without walking through it.

A new day of forgiveness begins.

~ Kari Henkelmann Keyl