Road to Forgiveness

I took a drive this month on a Road Less Traveled ...

February has been called the month of "Love" due one of the days that I try to resist, Valentines Day.  Why do I oppose a day of “LOVE” – it is because I think that every day and everything should be about “LOVE” not just one day each year.

Road to Forgiveness

I wanted this month to be about FORGIVENESS, the ultimate form of love to me and a...

  Road less traveled

I believe that one of the reasons that we are on this earth is to prove ourselves to our Heavenly Father, to become as His son, Christlike in every thought, word, deed and action.  But, just as a child makes mistakes so we all make mistakes, some are bigger then others but all are still mistakes.  I have made my share of mistakes over the last 50+ years and I am beginning to realize how essential and necessary it is to forgive and to ask for forgiveness. My eternal happiness depends on it.

My February focus has been to look into my past and to unconditionally forgive those that have wronged me.  Whether they were aware the hurt, harm or indifference they showed me.

Corrie TenBoom, a WWII holocaust survivor said, “Forgiveness is not an emotion…Forgiveness is an act of will.”  I have come to learn that to forgive is to love; to love is to forgive.  In the New Testament we read in the book of Luke 6:37 “Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven.”

More importantly then forgiving others this month I have been asking for forgiveness from family members, friends and even those that have wondered into my life’s path unknowingly. I am deeply sorry for any hurt, harm or distress that I might have cause any of you, whether knowingly or unintentional.  One of the quotes that I have come to love is…“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” ~Paul Boese.  I cannot erase, change or take back the mistakes, the unkind words, the casting of judgments or my own ignorance of the past but by seeking true and honest forgiveness, making a vow everyday to try to be as Paul taught the Ephesians

“be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.”  Hopefully I can be more like my Father desires me to be…Christlike in all my thoughts, words and deeds.

To paraphrase the poet Robert Frost...I took the road of forgiveness, one that at times in this world in less traveled by and it has made all the difference!