The Healing Power of Forgiveness

By Nancy Schimelpfening

Forgiveness.

It's such a hard thing to do, but it can be so liberating
to the soul. What makes it difficult for most of us to do
is the way we define it.

We think of forgiveness as meaning that we should say all
is forgotten and things will go back to what they were.
This Biblical definition of forgiveness is very hard for
most of us to swallow. How can you forget the
unforgettable?

How can you forgive the unforgivable?

To enjoy the benefits of forgiveness, however, we needn't
go that far. All that's really required is that we make the
decision to move forward, to let go of the old hurts. We
don't have to condone what's been done. What's wrong is
still wrong. We don't have to invite the person back into
our lives or even be friendly with them. What we do have to
do is allow ourselves to release all the negative emotions
associated with that person.

As long as we hold onto the pain, we are choosing to allow
that person's past actions to continue to hurt us. We can
also choose to stop letting them hurt us. That's a
definition of forgiveness that's more doable for those of
us who are less than saintly.

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