The Power of Forgiveness

This Thanksgiving season, I have a lot to be thankful for. I am thankful for my family and to be able to cook another thanksgiving meal in a time when so many people don't have money to put food on the table, let alone an extra big meal. I am thankful for another holiday in my own house. I am thankful to be able to pursue my dreams and to have lifters and thrusters (as Joel Osteen calls them) to lift me up and support me on this journey into the next season of my life. Overall, I am just thankful for life. After losing a dear brother in Christ so suddenly, recently I really appreciate being alive and being able to talk to the people I love and care about.

Something else I am thankful for is the power of forgiveness.

I feel like lately people have been hurtful and rude for no real reason. Most of the time unintentionally but hurtful just the same. I have been hit with a lot of "I didn't mean it that way" "You should've known", or "insert lame excuse for being a jerk here". Do people not think before they before they act and talk anymore? Does no one believe in saying I am sorry and really meaning it? 

The blessing in this though is that I still have peace and a grateful heart because I can forgive --even when they don't ask for it (which is often the case). I really don't have time to harbor resentment. I have so much going on. I think it was Nelson Mandela who once said that holding on to anger is like drinking poison and hoping the other person dies. So for that reason, I am thankful to be able to forgive. I will not let this season of being hurt and used turn into a lifetime. What others do to me does not define who I am. People's judgement of me and what I do, while at times I may not like it, does not define me either.

Forgiveness and moving forward is a powerful thing. Even more powerful when people don't ask for forgiveness and move forward like things never happened. I am happy to forgive. I am finally ready to release the cuffs and peruse the desires of my heart without dead weight. 

For real this time.