About
making peace through forgiveness…
Luke 23:34 Jesus said, "Father,
forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing." And they divided
up his clothes by casting lots. (NIV)
When
others hurt us we need to forgive. When others hurt us we too often keep the
hurt and then we let the hurts pile upon our shoulders. So much of our lack of
peace is a result of not forgiving the hurt put upon us by others or by life. In
addition, we miss so much of life because we often carry burdens of hurt we can
erase but burdens of hurt we continue to carry. Only a fool would pile rocks
upon his or her shoulders for no reason. Only a fool would carry a pile of rocks
upon one's shoulders day after day, year after year. As fools can and as fools
do, fools die every day having never cast off the needless burden of hurt these
fools needlessly carry. Every one of us can find more peace in life as we cast
off the burden of hurt we carry if we would just forgive. Every one of us can
find peace if we would get rid of our burdens of hurt by forgiving others.
Inexplicably, some of us refuse to forgive. Inexplicably, some of us would
rather go to our grave carrying our needless burdens of hurt. To forgive the
hurt is not such a difficult thing to do. To forgive means just to decide to let
the hurt go and then follow up the decision by actually letting go of the hurt.
You can let go of the hurt this instant. You can let go of the hurt because the
truth is you hold the straps keeping your pile of hurt upon your shoulders. You
hold the cords keeping the pile of limestone and granite placed upon you. Loosen
your grip upon the cords a little. After you have loosened your grip, loosen
your grip a little more. See the truth. See the truth it makes no difference
whether you carry your burden of hurt because the world turns daily whether you
are burdened or not. Then, as you let those needless burdens go, you make
peace…a glorious, wonderful peace, known only by those who have let their
burdens of hurt fly away.
