Does it seem at times that there are some lessons we never stop learning? Like forgiveness. Forgiveness is surely one of the more important life lessons that most of us have ample opportunity to practice. Forgiving one another is vital to keeping our joy, our peace, our well-being. It's vital to our self-respect and self-worth, our dignity. It's vital to our health.
There's an Arabic proverb with considerable wisdom on the subject: "Write the wrongs that are done to you in sand, but write the good things that happen to you on a piece of marble. Let go of . . . resentment and retaliation, which diminish you, and hold on to . . . gratitude and joy, which increase you." Prayers for Healing: 365 Blessings, Poems, & Meditations from Around the World, Maggie Oman, ed. (Berkeley, Calif.: Conari Press, 1997), p. 249
I find those words more than wise. I find them inspiring. No one wants to be diminished. We all want to grow, to be better, to be bigger in character. We want to feel that our lives are becoming progressively more meaningful, not more mean. I've talked to people who have become sick with resentment. Physically sick. And I've seen people turn to God in prayer, and through the transforming action of Christ, Truth, drop that resentment. Expressing a deeper forgiveness, gratitude, joy, they've been healed.
