Forgiveness
“Forgiveness
is one of the least understood of all spiritual practices. It has
nothing to do with condoning poor behavior in ourselves and others.
Rather, it calls us to responsibility.”
Joan
Borysenko (The Ways of the Mystic: Seven Paths to God)
Christians will begin the
journey of Lent next week. The forty days before Easter are supposed
to be about repentance and preparation. We sometimes forget that part
of that journey is also forgiveness—of ourselves and others. At
least, we forget to leave behind the regret we feel for the mistakes
we've made, or the resentment we feel toward others. We repent—which
means to think again, or to turn around—but instead of leaving our
burdens in a heap by the river of baptism, we bag 'em up and carry
them with us. The whole point of Easter is resurrection—renewal,
rising from death to life. It's hard to ascend with a bag of regrets
and resentments on your back.
Forgiveness is
misunderstood as something we do because we have done wrong, or
because someone else has done us wrong. Rarely do we look beyond the problem behavior, to the underlying ignorance
and wounding that caused it. Most of the time, if we knew the history
behind the act, we would find it easier to forgive. Repentance
requires that we delve into that history, which can be quite
uncomfortable, even painful. And, truth be told, many of us cherish
our righteous anger, and even our feelings of guilt. We hate to give
them up because they have become our identity.
Lent offers us forty days
to consider our own wrong-doings and those perpetrated upon us by
others. We can choose to leave them by the river, wash ourselves
clean of them once and for all, or we can bag those suckers up and
haul them around forever. Everybody makes stupid mistakes, even
grievous mistakes. Borysenko calls them sacred: “Mistakes, in
fact, are sacred because of the powerful potential for growth they
contain.” Working earnestly with forgiveness is a
soul-restoring, psyche-healing spiritual practice that can literally
turn a life around.
In the Spirit,
Jane
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