‘Forgiveness
is giving up the hope that the past could be any different’-unknown.
As I
dwelled on the above, it became clear to me that holding on to the past has no
purpose other than a point of reference to guide us into doing better. There is
a difference between rehearsing and nursing past offenses and reflecting and
learning from past events. Our hearts need to be filled with love, so we can
see it from a place of empathy because the reality is that hurt people, hurt
people. It’s not usually human nature to respond in compassion rather than
contempt. When we have been hurt in the process that represents a challenge in
itself.
Living in
the past holds you down to yesterday’s troubles, wounds and hurts. I had a
recent conversation that made me take stock of my response to people, who have
caused offense to me. I may have forgiven but I became so guarded that I was
subconsciously consumed by the offense. This triggered a reminder of similar
past events; the bitterness has taken root. This has inspired me to write the
following quote:
'Never
allow an offense to infringe on your peace at such a level that you guard your
heart so cautiously that you fail to realise the invisible shackles. This takes
away your true freedom to think and to be'.
When we trust
a higher power than ourselves, it takes the burden and releases us from such a deprivation of freedom that we become imprisoned by our own thought patterns. A
fear of a repeated incident takes away today’s peace. Guard your heart but
don’t be so guarded that it takes away your ability to live freely. Allowing Jesus to take our anger and
cleanse our hearts can release us from the bondage of bitterness. He replaces the negative with His love and
grace and peace.
In other
words, we don’t have to consciously go out and make an effort to avoid certain
individuals or situations. That itself takes time and effort. In a broken world avoidance rarely works.
Instead trust the process and live your truths. When we don’t, we may do it at
the expense of the peace of today, when the offense has long expired.
With peace
and love
KIMI
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