THE REBIRTH OF FORGIVENESS

I am a sincere believer in the need we have as travelers on this speeding train of life to slow down and sometimes even come to a complete stop in order to activate the processes of rejuvenation and re-creation in our lives. We need to open up time which allows our senses to be stimulated by the wonderful smells of nature, let the beauties which surround us fill our natural lenses, take time to touch the textural differences of things and to leisurely taste of the tantalizing buffet which surrounds us.

However, one of the best ways to accomplish a relief from the rigors of our regimens comes from a more difficult to access inner sense which, sadly, we all too seldom activate.

Long ago on the northern deserts of the Sinai Peninsula, the Lord gave a formula to Israel which would enable a whole nation to go through the refreshing, rejuvenating, re-creating and regenerating process of rebirth. The Lord in His infinite wisdom wrote into the Law of Moses a system of sabbatical years during which celebrations of universal forgiveness of accumulated encumbrances took place.

As in so many areas of human development, once again we find the Lord’s Law given to Moses standing at the rostrum in the role of schoolmaster. Is not the Lord marking on our slates of learning the marvelous principle which, if applied as individuals as well as communities and nations, can have the same rejuvenating effect on us that it had on ancient Israel?

The principle of forgiveness entails a washing more than a wiping which radically rids whatever encumbrance another may have written upon our hearts, heals the deepest wounds and brings reconciliation to separated kin.

The principle of forgiveness was never intended to be a principle of condescension toward others.

The principle of forgiveness, if properly lived, becomes a liberating and cleansing act which not only allows the forgiver to be more sensitive to the beautiful smells which surround them, to see with greater light through their lenses, to touch all things created with greater tenderness and to taste with greater satisfaction, but also frees one’s soul and opens their being to vistas of the stimulating possibilities of growth.

When I truly forgive my neighbor and lift the burden of responsibility of past deeds from another’s ledger the weight upon my own shoulders diminishes dramatically.

When I forgive another, I, at the same time lift from my own life, hours, sometimes years, of worthless worry about something which was rendering a portion of my life into counter-productiveness.

I will find I will have put off an equal if not greater burden from my own life, which will now free up hours and years which can be used in useful pursuits.

As I begin to erase the scars and wounds of mistrust and hatred for another, I will find myself being healed and I will begin to feel whole within and without.

As I strip myself of the false armor of imagined and un-necessary battles, I will find myself unencumbered, more prepared and fully fitted to participate in the daily skirmishes of life.

It will be an illuminating experience to see the increased velocity of my character growth.

I will find myself more girded with the armor of self-assurance and self-mastery.

I will be more fully fortified and able to ward off the lashes as I encounter future insults.

Future offenses will find it increasingly difficult to pierce my reinforced suit of mail.

Another wonderful miracle which will attend the rebirth which comes with forgiveness is that as I become less susceptible to the stings and jibes of my fellow wanderers, I will find myself becoming more open to the recognition of the strengths of others. I will find my world and the life I am living a more positive place and experience.

It has been my experience that those who cannot recognize the benefits of applying the principles of forgiveness are those who have not nor will not apply them.

I am convinced that once someone has experienced the marvelous, refreshing newness of life which accompanies a forgiveness experience and having recognized wherein the new found regeneration was formulated, they will set out to become a forever forgiving person so that the accompanying joys might be constant and increasing.

May we all be so inclined to love ourselves sufficiently that we might give ourselves the gift of forgiving others and thereby become blessed celebrants of the Lord’s sabbatical law!