Forgiveness Is Freedom

One night, a few of us went out to eat at our favorite Chinese restaurant. Lingering over steamy cups of Jasmine Tea, we laughed about seeing what our fortunes would be this time. Some of the fortunes were the typically inscrutable advent of riches and whatnot. My "fortune," however caught my eye so much, I had it laminated and carried it wit me for years. "Because you forgive others, you are free," it read. The profound truth of my "fortune" provided me with many opportunities to reflect on how well I had learned the art of forgiveness and how far I still needed to go. 

Utimately, inner freedom is a divine gift wrought for us on the Cross by Our Savior. However, the gift of forgiveness requires a conscious effort, an act of the will applied until freedom is accomplished. How many thousands of hurting people I have  ministered to remained in their chains of sorrow because they had not engaged their wills, i.e. decided to forgive the ones who had hurt them?

Every day, we pray the Lord's Prayer, yet somehow we miss the little word, "as." "Forgive us our trespasses AS we forgive those..." Suddenly, our prayer becomes a judgment when he discover anger, unforgiveness, and resentment in our hearts. Do we realize we're asking Our Father to forgive us just like we "forgive" our neighbor? Ouch!

Living in forgiveness demands humility and swift repentance. We have no time to nurture our petty slights or even intentional insult. Peace requires a continual surrender, a letting go of my need to be acknowledged, to be right, or whatever nonsense I can dream up. I can choose to be at peace or to be miserable. It's simply up to me.

Betrayal can be a tough thing to overcome, but I finally learned this lesson that the key to my dark prison cell had been in the door for years before I found that by applying daily(sometimes hourly) affirmations of forgiveness lubricated the rusted key so the lock finally clicked open. 

Forgiveness can be difficult, exhausting and take years, but in the end, it boils down to wanting to be forgiven myself for my many sins. If I had a dine for every time I've heard someone say, "I can never forgive so-and-so" I'd be a millionaire! What this person is actually saying is "I won't forgive. No way. No how."  The door to freedom is then sadly blocked, until the Holy Spirit supplies copious drops of the oil of humility to defeat the impact of unforgiveness in one's life.

Decide right now that enough is enough. If you really want to be free. Ask the Hoky Spirit to help you and begin your journey to freedom. True interior peace and joy are possible. Activate your will to decide you won't settle for anything less then the freedom Jesus won for you on the Cross. Keep forgiving and you'll know the "peace that passes all understanding."