As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to
my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still
be in prison. ~ Nelson Mandela
Not forgiving is like drinking rat poison and then waiting
for the rat to die. ~ Anne Lamott
To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the
prisoner was you. ~ Lewis B. Smedes
In the bible it says you have to forgive seventy times
seven. I want you to know, I’m keeping a chart.
~Hillary Rodham Clinton
Okay, so you get the picture. Forgiveness. That’s what I’m
talking about. Because unforgiveness is
a burden too big to bear. Ask Corrie Ten
Boom. Ask Coretta Scott King, who said
that hate injures the hater more than the hated.
Sue Monk Kidd stated, “People in general would rather die
than forgive. It’s THAT hard. If God said in plain language, ‘I’m giving you a
choice: forgive or die,’ a lot of people would go ahead and order their
coffin.”
How it’s done
Deanne told me a story about her
estranged father, how he’d never paid her any mind, never remembered her
birthday, never gave her Christmas gifts or the time of day.
“I decided that I’d have to be the
one who reached out to him, and if he never reciprocated, so be it. I began
sending him cards on his birthday and calling during the holidays, and just
checking in every so often. I’m okay with the one-sided relationship because at
least I know I’ve done my part.”
She told me her story exactly when I
needed to hear it most. When someone I
deeply loved had wounded me so much that I was losing sleep. And so I took her lead and began reaching out
to that person. Then I wrote the whole painful story as fiction. That’s
what you do when you have to “tell the truth but tell it slant.”
Your turn
Now I want to hear from you.
Tell me about your experience with forgiveness – or the lack thereof
should that be the case. Throw off the
albatross and move on. Release it on paper now. That’s how the healing
begins.
It doesn’t have to be major league drama. Nothing is too
petty. Maybe you remember when your sister chopped off your favorite doll’s
beautiful hair. Or your brother swiped your pack of Juicy Fruit gum and chewed
every last stick.
Or maybe it IS high drama.
Maybe your wicked stepmother stole your inheritance from you and left
you penniless and homeless. Maybe your neighbor hated your barking border
collie, so he turned him out of the pen while you were gone to the store one
day and Falstaff has never been seen again.
And don’t forget to forgive yourself for that stupid thing
you did. If only you hadn’t taken the
shotgun and blown the skylight to smithereens when your husband didn’t get
around to repairing the leak…
If only you hadn’t told your dear friend that her new job as
a census worker wasn’t exactly the most respected position in the world…
Write your story in any POV you like, as prose or poetry,
fiction or nonfiction. It matters not.
Go!
