Forgiveness

Forgiveness is not a virtue that stands alone.  Along with it must stand acceptance.  This is a lesson that I am just now learning, as I struggle with certain relationships in my life.  Not only must I forgive people their past transgressions, I must also accept them, as they were and as they are now.  I cannot expect them to change, for that is not up to me.  I must accept that they did the best that they could with what they had at the time – not only that, but that they still are. 

It is very easy to feel slighted by someone, and then to stand tall on my morals and forgive them, looking down from some lofty place where it’s very easy to say that I would never have done something like THAT!

However, we are all human, and to come down from that lofty place is half the battle of forgiveness.  I have to realize that, whatever mistakes were made, they were not made with malice or with anger – they were made with love.  And, the truth is that there is no way to know what choices that I would have made in the same situations.  They could have been the same, or worse. 

It is up to me to love as I am loved.