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Fill your holy days with forgiveness
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“Resentment is like drinking poison and waiting for it to kill your enemy.” — Nelson Mandela
Believers around the world are now celebrating the holy days of Passover and Easter. This is a great time to take stock of any anger, resentment or rancor you may have against anyone. To harbor resentment, as Nelson Mandela elegantly states, is more injurious to ourselves than to the person who offended us. When we refuse to forgive, we are sapped of our energy, creativity wanes and we simply are not our best selves. We carry negative energy and get preoccupied with our own hurts rather than service, contribution and other-centeredness.
There is an old axiom: To understand all is to forgive all. Remember we are all imperfect and broken in some fashion, and that people make mistakes acting out of their own woundedness. Secondly, we are not mind readers and will never fully understand why others act the way they do. We can only embrace the imperfection of others as a reality and remember that each moment offers a new beginning.
An added bonus of forgiveness is that it gradually transforms the way we view ourselves. When we are kinder, gentler and forgiving to others, we become more inclined to do the same to ourselves.
Endeavor to be the best you can be by forgiving … today.
“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” — Paul Boese