Forgiveness

“Forgiveness is the fragrance of the violet that clings fast to the heel that has crushed it.” - Mark Twain

This is one of my favorite quotes. It is right up there with Walt Disney's "It's kind of fun to do the impossible!"

The sticky thing about forgiveness is that the people we need to forgive are the very people we feel deserve our very least. Yet the gift of forgiveness is our very best. Though it is hard to give this gift we often seek forgiveness. We so often want people to forgive our errors while clinging tight to the errors made against us.

It takes a big person to forgive. I think it's something huge to ask for forgiveness. That can be hard to do when you have stepped into a pile of fresh manure and drug it through the entire house. - figuratively speaking. 

The goal is to forgive and forget. Forgiving is hard enough. Forgetting is near impossible. I think forgetting often comes in the form of moving past the pain or the hurt. No, we won't forget, but we can let go. 

At 9 years old, my son is amazingly wise. He has an old soul. While talking about forgiveness and past hurts recently he said, "The past is in the past, Mom. We get to leave it there and move on. We get to be happy that we have today." 

I started at him with my mouth agape. I had just been schooled by a extremely bright little man. It was what he said next that really humbled me.

He went on to say, "I learned all this from you and Dad. That's were I learn most of my stuff."

They really do listen! I marveled at this revelation and I pondered the words my son gave back to me that I had given to him.

Today I vow to forgive. I am letting go of past hurts and curses cast upon me. I am also forgiving myself for my missteps. I am taking a lesson from the Bible and following the advice of my son. By the end of the day my soul should permeate the scent of a thousand violets.