forgiveness includes going further to reconcilliation

I'm convinced that our mental and physical health depends on our attitude toward others and how we treat them. Included in this is forgiveness. In fact, if I could choose the one gift from God that I personally need to have and to give, it would be the gift of forgiveness, both to others and for me.

Maltbie Babcock wrote years ago: "How sure are we of our own forgiveness from God. How certain are we that we are made in His image, when we forgive heartily and out of hand one who has wronged us. Sentimentally we may feel, and lightly we may say, 'To err is human, to forgive divine;' but we never taste the nobility and divinity of forgiving until we forgive and know the victory of forgiveness over our sense of being wronged, over mortified pride and wounded sensibilities. Here we are in living touch with Him who treats us as though nothing had happened--who turns His back upon the past, and bids us journey with Him into goodness and gladness, into newness of life." Well, He asks that we do the same for others and ourselves.

We all know someone whom we are reluctant to forgive, for whatever reasons. There's a bit of pride that hids in the corner of our heart and flashes out to bite us when that certain person digs in with memories and corrodes our self-esteem. After being bitten royally one day--again-- I asked myself if it would have bothered me so much if someone else had said this same thing. What a surprise to realize that I wouldn't have thought once, much less twice about it. But it was this person!! Why??? I still haven't figured out!

But it was at that moment I realized that my attitude was wrong, and that I was only hurting myself, not the other person, who probably wasn't even aware of what was happening. So I forgave, and now I'm learning to treat this person as though nothing had happened. In fact, I truly love this person now!!

If there is one certainty in life it is this: "love never fails" -- to give the gift of forgiveness. And it's God's gift of love that gets the process going. What a relief to finally put aside how I feel and to WILL a love that only He can give.