Forgiving does not usually happen at once. It is a process, sometimes a long one, especially when it comes to wounds gouged deep. And we must expect some lapses...some people seem to manage to finish off forgiving in one swoop of the heart. But when they do, you can bet they are forgiving flesh wounds. Deeper cuts take more time and can use a second coat.
Interpretation
Forgiveness is a gradual process that can take time, especially for deeper emotional wounds.
In this quote, Lewis B. Smedes emphasizes that the act of forgiving is often not instantaneous but rather a journey that individuals must navigate, particularly when dealing with emotional injuries that run deep. He highlights the importance of patience and understanding, noting that while some may find it easy to forgive minor grievances, deeper hurts require more time and effort to heal, suggesting that true forgiveness often necessitates a thoughtful and measured approach.
In practice
During a discussion on healing from past trauma, one might say, 'As Smedes mentioned, forgiving does not usually happen at once.'
God is the original, master forgiver. Each time we grope our reluctant way through the minor miracle of forgiving, we are imitating his style. I am not at all sure that any of us would have had imagination enough to see the possibilities in this way to heal the wrongs of this life had he not done it first.
Vengeance is having a videotape planted in your soul that cannot be turned off. It plays the painful scene over and over again inside your mind...And each time it plays you feel the clap of pain again...Forgiving turns off the videotape of pained memory Forgiving sets you free.
Forgiving does not erase the bitter past. A healed memory is not a deleted memory. Instead, forgiving what we cannot forget creates a new way to remember. We change the memory of our past into a hope for our future.
Forgiving is love's toughest work, and love's biggest risk. If you twist it into something it was never meant to be, it can make you a doormat or an insufferable manipulator. Forgiving seems almost unnatural. Our sense of fairness tells us people should pay for the wrong they do. But forgiving is love's power to break nature's rule.
When you give up vengeance, make sure you are not giving up on justice. The line between the two is faint, unsteady, and fine...Vengeance is our own pleasure of seeing someone who hurt us getting it back and then some. Justice, on the other hand, is secure when someone pays a fair penalty for wronging another even if the injured person takes no pleasure in the transaction. Vengeance is personal satisfaction. Justice is moral accounting...Human forgiveness does not do away with human justice.
When you release the wrongdoer from the wrong, you cut a malignant tumor out of your inner life. You set a prisoner free, but you discover that the real prisoner was yourself.
Here's to woman! Would that we could fold into her arms without falling into her hands.
Who you spend your life with-much more so than how you choose to spend it-is the most important decision you can make. Do it right. That's the best advice I can give you.
I think there's a lot of gay women in sports, and it's widely known in the team; they can live a pretty open lifestyle without being open in the media.
Marriage is a bribe to make a housekeeper think she's a householder.
The truest mark of your success in life will be the quality of your marriage
Sometimes loving eyes don't see what they don't want to see.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.