On Forgiveness

I woke up today on a mission...to get my home back in some semblance of order! My husband had the day off, but will be back full force tomorrow and on call 5 of the next 7 days--which means we will see very little of him. Additionally, our cousin Scott is having knee surgery tomorrow and will be staying with us for the first few days of his recovery. With the children home for school break our week is filled with activity.

As much as I hated to rush down the trees and pack up the decorations so soon, it seemed that if it didn't happen today it was going to be 2 more weeks. So, for five hours this morning I packed, purged, cleaned and organized. The really bright spot in our renovation process is that I have a HUGE dumpster in my driveway just begging me to chunk some things. :-)

There is something so therapeutic about getting things put into an orderly fashion. I love fresh starts, firsts, clean pages, new chapters, blank calendars...

It was at the end of this kind of day that I read Donald Miller's blog post on a different kind of purging, Forgiveness. I was particularly impacted by his comments regarding an old wrong he had committed against someone who would not forgive him. Donald Miller writes:

"I wondered why it was that this person simply couldn’t give me forgiveness. And I realized, when I put myself in their shoes, forgiveness was a lot to ask. Nobody deserves to be forgiven for what they’ve done. I’m not entitled to it, for sure. But these days, I’m grateful for being given forgiveness by some, and having it withheld makes me more willing to offer it. I don’t blame people for not forgiving. It’s hard, and frightening and it takes time and a lot of work, unfair work.

A friend describes forgiveness as the willingness to carry a burden somebody has given you without holding it against them any longer. I thought that was a good definition. Good but not easy."

I have never thought about it quite this way...Instead of resenting those who can't/won't choose not to forgive I should be more moved by the grace of those who find it within themselves to do the hard thing.

This seems an appropriate reflection in this season of packing up, restoring order and starting fresh...
1) When I wrong someone else, I pray I may find true humility and repentence, then ask their forgiveness without a sense of entitlement and
2) When I am wronged I will choose to remember how much grace has been bestowed on my heart and soul and to return grace to others as an act of worship to the One who modeled it so beautifully.

2012 is looking more peaceful already.