"Which Is Easier To Say...

...your sins are fogiven or stand up and walk?"
It's a quote from the Bible Luke 5:23.
A dear friend asked me for my views on forgiveness and I have to say, lately, I have had alot of views on that particular subject and each time, I have thought something different but, on contemplation, have come to the same conclusion.
You can't get up and move on until you forgive and let go.
Yes, that's pretty much it.
We all know the adages, "anger hurts you more than it hurts the other person" , "...to forgive is divine" but no one really explains how to forgive when the hurt is still present or the consequences are ongoing.
If you are hoping I will, you are out of luck. I don't know. All I can tell you is my personal experience.
Forgiveness to me is accepting that things have gone the way they have, that what has been done, has in fact been done and that it as done by the doer.
Forgiveness is accepting that he/she/they did what they did and that that is what happened.
Forgiveness is acknowledging and allowing myself to fully feel the pain, the hurt, the disappointment, the sadness, the anger that is the aftermath of the event.
Forgiveness is knowing that even this is an opportunity to learn, to grow, to be a better person.
Forgiveness is choosing to use this to learn, to grow and to be a better person.
Forgiveness is owning up to the fact that it happened to me, that I was present and that I did what I did and not what I now think I shoulda, coulda, woulda done. That at the time, whatever I did was the best I knew how.
Forgiveness is not judging myself harshly. It is loving myself enough to accept that I am human enough to feel pain, to blame another, to be angry for as long as it serves me. And I am also divine enough to realise that holding on to the past prevents me from ever getting away from the events that happened. That I am both the tetherer and the tethered one for as long as I hold on.

And that when I let go, I am free to stand up and walk.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
Friend, your sins are forgiven.

(c) Renee Ngamau