The spirit needs healing very much like the body does. There are medicines for physical illnesses. There are love and forgiveness for the ills of the spirit. Often, it is easier for me to love than to forgive. There are many people who have hurt me and caused me pain. Many I have forgiven. Others I have simply chosen to forget. But there are some whom I find difficult and hard to forgive or to forget the pain they have brought into my life. And the hurt keeps on festering, like a necrotic, smelly wound that wouldn’t heal. Some of these may not even be aware of the pain and suffering they have caused in me.
I also need to be forgiven. I know there are also many people whom I have hurt. In many instances, I do say sorry and ask to be forgiven. But there are persons and instances where I am too proud to ask for forgiveness. There are other instances where in my callousness I may not even be aware that I have caused pain and heartaches. How can I know whom to say sorry to.
I know forgiveness heals. It takes courage, strength and generosity to forgive. It takes humility and faith to ask for forgiveness. If I don’t forgive I get caught in a downward spiral of bitterness, anger, hatred and the desire to even the score. This is one of the very obvious truths that I am struggling with to truly learn and live in my life. I seek the healing grace and grace-full healing to forgive. I seek with humility and faith, the forgiveness my spirit longs for.
One day, while he was teaching, Pharisees and teachers of the law were sitting nearby (they had come from every village of Galilee and Judea and from Jerusalem); and the power of the Lord was with him to heal. Luke 5:17-26