For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
(Matthew 6.14 NRSV)
One of the hardest tasks any of us has is to forgive someone who has hurt us. Leo Buscalgia tells about one of his students who was jilted by her boyfriend. The young woman felt both hurt and rejected. At the time she felt she would never get over it. In her confusion she didn't understand her intense feelings to cause him harm in some way. It is a natural to want to hurt someone who has hurt us. This young woman had never been so hurt before in her life. Deep down, though, she knew she had to forgive. As she wisely put it, "I'm the one in pain, so I'm the one who's got to do something about it!"

She would have to forgive the young man for her own sake. Her pain was so intense that she was unable to study or concentrate. At her lowest point she even contemplated dropping all of her classes. She tried to build new relationships but failed. Finally she realized that if she wanted to go on with her life she would have to forgive and forget. And she did forgive. No longer is she a slave to her anger, spite, hate, and hurt.

It's hard to forgive someone who has hurt us. We think of ways we could get even. Sometimes we just want to write the person off and ignore them as if they no longer exist. It's difficult to forgive. And yet the one thing we all have in common is that we have all been hurt by someone else. It may have been intentionally or accidentally, but we've all been there. How we respond is the key.

Dear God, help me to forgive and let go. In Jesus name, Amen.

Ron Newhouse

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