Forgiveness

Halo!

I was going to write on this topic for a while, and now, I feel is the perfect opportunity.
I have wronged somebody and they have done something negative towards me. Now, if it was me 5-6-7 years ago, I would have told that person everything I thought about him/her and stormed off in the vast foyer of the house. Fortunately, this time this whole thing ended up being a life lesson for me, which I hope to keep for the years to come.
It was so incredibly hard to forgive someone who did not say a nice thing towards me. It is so easy to forgive those who have not wronged against us, or said something to upset us. We have forgiveness Sunday right before Great Lent. We go around the church , family, and friends saying, "Forgive, me a sinner" and the person replies, "God forgives". But do we really mean it? Somebody very close to me, non Orthodox, said to me, "Why do you not confess the actual sins, when we say this? Wouldn't it be more personal and more meaningful?" He didn't feel like it was worth going around saying those words to strangers. Now, I see where he was coming from and understand his confusion. I, myself, struggled with the same ideas for some time.
On that Sunday, I was in church and I was standing there, praying, "Please God, grant me to forgive the person who has done me wrong. Give me strength not to turn the other cheek and ask that person to forgive me as well, as I might have initiated this conflict between us." The whole time, I was in tears, as I was realizing that part of me still held a grudge and hurt. It scared me a lot. How are we to forgive one another? Now I moved a bit closer to understanding why God's greatest teaching is to love on another in Christ.

I pray that we, as a nation, will have the courage to say, "I'm sorry" to our brothers and sisters in Christ, non-believers, family, friends, those we do not know very well and MEAN it! Forgiveness is a gift from God that is granted upon asking for it in prayer. When it is given to you, everything else falls away and you realize so much more His sacrifice to you.

Blessings,
Darina