The Freedom in Forgiving

Today I am grateful for a gorgeous evening for a solitary bike ride last evening. I am also grateful for a phone conversation with my friend Jill.

I went to church services on Sunday and have had the sermon message flitting in and out of my mind since. The message was one of forgiveness, unconditional forgiveness. Forgiveness is more for the person doing the forgiving than the person being forgiven. If someone is unable to forgive, at the least it can take the joy out of today and at the worst it can destroy them.

In my life, the person I have had the toughest time forgiving is myself. Thankfully, I have made progress in being kinder and gentler with myself. It takes intentional actions and efforts though. Gratitude practice is one of those key actions and efforts. When we recognize and sense more good in the world around us, we tend to recognize and sense more good in ourselves as well.

Forgiveness also reminds me of the line "Bless them, change me." If I am needing to forgive someone else, needing to squelch a growing resentment, it is more about me letting go of what they did or didn't do and instead focusing on what I need to do. That frees my energy up for the right efforts, the right actions. That is better than wasting energy in my head regarding the perceived wrong I think was done to me.

Forgiveness truly does bring freedom. Today I will look for when and where I need to apply some forgiveness, of self and others.