Last night my daughter was lying at the foot of my bed with a red blanket covering her. When I went to pull the bed comforter up over me, I grabbed the blanket she was using instead and and pulled it right off of her. Immediately realizing what I had done, I said to her "I'm sorry, Merritt." She quickly responded to me "I forgive you." That simple reply struck a resonant chord with me that I thought about all morning while I was getting ready for work. That chord vibrated from one thought to the next about how the simple act of asking for forgiveness and forgiving has become so lost in my own life and the world around me.
First and foremost, the thought that resonated in my mind was that must be how succinctly God forgives me when I genuinely ask Him for forgiveness of the sins I commit. My daughter could've said that's OK, don't worry about it, or I know you are when I said "I'm sorry", but instead she responded with "I forgive you" and pulled her blanket back and laid back down. God doesn't say let me think about it for a while and I will get back to you or I will forgive you, but you must do this for me or even let me see, I know you are going to do this same thing again so what is the point. No, God just looks at my heart and says I can see you are repentant and "I forgive you". The next thing that God does is the most amazing part to me. God takes that forgiveness and adds forget to it as well. That means he doesn't put that sin up on a shelf with a stack of all the other times I committed that sin to keep record of and hold over me. No, he genuinely forgives and treats me as if the sin never occurred, much in the same way my daughter did with the blanket.
Next, that resonant chord vibrated to the thought of letting go of the sins I have been forgiven of or the wrongs I have asked forgiveness for. Let me explain. Many times the problems with sin in my own life comes from me not being able to let go of the things that God has already forgiven me for and I go back time and time again feeling guilt and regret for those past transgressions. I let those sins way me down and I distance myself from God because I fear the consequences of that sin over the the love and forgiveness that God wants to provide. Additionally, I have the same problem letting go of wrongs I have committed towards others that I have apologized for, but may or may not have been forgiven of. It should not be a requirement that I be forgiven by others before I can forgive myself of the wrongs I have done towards them. I cannot control their willingness to forgive, but I can ask for forgiveness, forgive myself and let go.
The third and final thought that resonant chord brought to me didn't come until after I started writing this blog. It seems that we as a society have completely lost the concept of what it means to genuinely feel remorse, ask for forgiveness, accept an apology, forgive others, forget and move on. Now I fully understand that it is impossible for humans to actually force ourselves to forget something (we only forget the things we try to remember) and there are some things that we genuinely may not be able to forgive someone for, but we have to learn how to let go and move on. In America where everything is someone else's fault and we will sue someone for just about anything, we stack up wrongs against each other and hold them like trophies or poker chips to be cashed in at the end of the day. But, I digress and I must leave that for another blog on another day.
What have I learned from that simple act of forgiveness my daughter showed to me? I want to follow her example and forgive like God does. I want to learn to let go when I have been forgiven and when I have asked others for forgiveness. And I pray I can be a Godly example to a society that has forgotten the true meaning of forgiveness.
