Forgiving is not feeling pleasant
Sometimes forgiveness begins well before emotion accompanies it.
Forgiving does not mean that the wound disappears instantly or that everything returns to being just the same. It can require distance, justice, and time.
Yet the heart can begin by releasing the desire for revenge and placing that person before God. The emotion will move much more slowly; the decision can begin today.
The interior life requires patience. Some emotions warn of a wound, of fatigue, or of a disordered desire; others simply pass away. Maturing means not taking them as if they were law, nor ignoring them as if they said nothing at all.
Key idea
Christian forgiveness begins by giving up resentment, even if it hurts.
Your challenge for this idea
Speak before God the name of someone whom you need to begin to forgive today.
BASED ON
Charity →