Greatness in Forgiveness

Greatness in Forgiveness

There are times in life when we all have to forgive.

It is perhaps the hardest thing in the world to do because we have to sacrifice ourselves—the little ego that wants to be important, have its own way and to be recognized for its power and grandeur.

We all recognize these attitudes, and, if we are wise we understand such states of mind.

Unfortunately for humanity, the little ego is such a big part of who we are and the way we identify ourselves that it sticks to us like sticky fly-paper.

It is hard to overlook its power and tenacity, its sheer love of itself and itself only!

The word forgiveness has a simple and easy to remember meaning: to give for. Religionists, whoever and wherever they are, have lost sight of the original meaning and modern psychologists may use the term forgiveness with their clients as meaning pardon.

While giving pardon can help soothe a client’s emotions, forgiveness arises from the mind. It can become an elevated mental expression when it takes on the enormous meaning of sacrifice: consciously choosing to lose self or ego for the good of others as well as a group.

Hard as it must have been, the old woman in the first chapter True Forgiveness of my book Greatness ; 21 Compelling Stories That Open The Heart titled True Forgiveness, who forgave the murderer of her husband and son, represents the kind of essential forgiveness that is true sacrifice.

She planned for a way she could genuinely use her love to help the murderer overcome his hatred. Likewise, soldiers march off to war with the willingness to give their lives for their country or their people.

She was willing to give up her own desire for revenge, mistrust and hatred of this white man who murdered the people she loved most in the world.

She understood within her heart that she knew better and allowed her ego to let go of its powerful bear-like grip on her personality.

After much meditation and prayer, the old black woman, nameless in this story, stood aside of her own very human ego’s thoughts and emotions. The loving and kind Source was the fount of everything she hoped to achieve with the troubled white man who tortured and killed her only family.

As observers of this almost larger than life drama, we wonder if it is possible to participate jointly with the higher will in its rendering of immense sacrifice.

In this story the old black woman’s allowing her higher nature to take over so she could hold the murderer in her arms and tell him that he was completely forgiven.

It lets us know that even in her imagination and in her life she wanted to participate, to contribute and to give back.

Forgiveness, as sacrifice or giving for as the old woman did, involves right living every day and not the death of the body.

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you. ~ Lewis B. Smedes

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All rights reserved. 2018 Rebecca Field