Learning to Forgive

When I was in college I participated in sports. During one game early in my first year, a player on the opposing team broke my leg, and it was deliberate. It created quite an imposition for me at school that year, and I had a hard time trying not to feel very angry toward him.

I physically recovered, and did fine through the rest of my school years; but I found it difficult to let go of this deep feeling of why someone would do this, and at times felt great anger about it. It bothered me for quite a while, until we moved to Plainfield. I started to work with a practitioner here who began to teach me what forgiveness was all about.

One of the things this practitioner taught me was that hatred only hurts the one who is hating. Mrs. Eddy writes, “hatred is a plague-spot that spreads its virus and kills at last.” (Mis. p.12) We forgive the sins of others, not for their good, but for our own good, as God forgives us.

It took me a while to really feel forgiveness for this person, but I realized I had to do so for my own good. I remember the day that I finally said, “Ok, whoever you are, wherever you are, I forgive you. You must have had a hard life that would cause you to do something like that, and for that I am sorry for you, and I forgive you.”

I will never forget the relief I felt releasing that burden of hatred from my shoulders. It was a liberating experience. So, I am very grateful to learn the importance of forgiveness, and to be able to forgive even those who seem to do the worst and most awful things.