[Nfbk] The Gift of Forgiveness

[Joey Couch]

"The Gift of Forgiveness"

Life is a study in forgiveness. No one gets through life without
needing to forgive. And no one escapes the need to be forgiven.
Perhaps the central test of character, forgiveness brings out the best
in us. It leads us beyond our own pain and suffering and helps us feel
God’s love. Ironically, we help ourselves in the most profound way
when we give the gift of forgiveness to others.

Charlotte Brontë’s literary classic Jane Eyre addresses the theme of
forgiveness so well. Young Jane, orphaned and sent to live with a
spiteful aunt, endures years of neglect and cruelty as a child. When
Jane is old enough, her aunt sends her away to a substandard boarding
school, where she is again mistreated. But Jane learns a vital lesson
from Helen, a dear friend there. Helen explains to Jane one of life’s
great secrets: "Life appears to me too short to be spent in nursing
animosity, or registering wrongs."1 Helen teaches Jane to forgive: to
forget wrongs, to love enemies, to "bless them that curse you, do good
to them that hate you . . . [and] despitefully use you."2

Jane’s life is different ever after. It doesn’t necessarily become
easier—Jane still has to endure injustices, hardships, and
betrayals—but she is better prepared for all these things because she
has learned not to hold on to grudges and ill feelings. She frees her
soul from anger, bitterness, and revenge. In fact, Jane even returns
to her malicious aunt and attends to her during her dying days.
Ultimately, Jane finds true joy—and even true love—because she learned
to forgive.

And so can we. It may be the hardest work we ever do, but it is also
the most rewarding. Resolve now to let an old grudge go. Decide in
advance to forgive any future offense that may come. Determine never
to let a mistake get in the way of a meaningful relationship. As the
18th-century British poet Alexander Pope wrote, "To err is human, to
forgive, divine."3



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre (2006), 60.
2. Matthew 5:44.
3. Essay on Criticism (1711), line 525.


-- 
Joey Couch
phone 606-216-8033.
email ki4vjd at gmail.com
twitter.
 http://www.twitter.com/ki4vjd
facebook.
 http://www.facebook.com/ki4vjd