Frozen

Why is it so hard to forgive?

"When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do; for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. "Pray then in this way: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not bring us to the time of trial, but rescue us from the evil one. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you; but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. - Matthew 6:7-15

In teaching his disciples to pray, Jesus focuses on forgiveness.

When someone does something to hurt us, we tend to carry that hurt for a while.  In fact, it may stop us dead in our tracks, making us unable to move forward.

While we are stuck in the pain, we cannot think straight.  All thoughts find their way back to the sorrow and hurt that are holding us prisoner.

Forgiveness frees us from that prison.  It sets us free to live again, but the act of forgiveness is not easy to do.  It can be painful, like ripping a bandage free from a wound.

We all have conditions that we place on forgiveness.  I will forgive you if...

God doesn't do that.  Sure, Jesus teaches us to pray that God will forgive us the way we forgive others, but the real message is that we pray we will be as forgiving as God is.

There are no conditions on God's love.  He doesn't say, "I will forgive you if..."

When I see people in pain over the loss of a family member to violence, as we have seen this week, I know that they will hold that pain for days, months, even years.  In fact, they may never be able to move beyond it, and why should they?

Their world has been shattered.  What do they have to live for, now that the one they love is gone?

But what about the one who is gone?  What would he or she want for them?

I know if anything happened to me, I would not want the people I love to stop living.  I would want them to go and do the things in the world I would have enjoyed doing with them.

Life is for living.  So, when the obstacles to life hold us back, we need to find a way around them or through them.

And for that we pray.

Forgive me, Father, for failing to live the life you planned for me.  Help me to be more forgiving myself, so I can be all you want me to be.

More to come...