Forgiveness Is A Powerful Weapon!
Forgiveness
“Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.”
This is a quote from the movie Invictus. Nelson Mandela just took over the country of South Africa as the president after 27 years in prison. He was imprisoned by the people he was now to lead. Mandela decided to integrate the country, including his security forces When the white capital SAS security guard showed up for work, the black Mandela security guards were shocked! How could they work together? These were the people that imprison them, these were the people that tortured them, these were the people that raided their village and killed their families.
Mandela asked them to forgive. “Forgiveness liberates the soul, it removes fear. That’s why it’s such a powerful weapon.”
This was just at the beginning of the movie, but it was such an important message for me. Forgiveness. Such a simple thing, but so hard to do.
It’s so easy to harbor hate and anger. For some reason, it just feels right. Someone has wronged us… we should be angry with them. If they don’t apologize – we don’t forgive them. If we don’t think they’re giving us a genuine apology we don’t forgive them. It’s our righteous way. Actually… It’s our ego talking.
Have you ever been angry at someone for a long time, maybe so long that you almost forgot why you are angry with them? I’ve been there. Harboring my righteous anger.
If you think about it, who is that anger hurting. It’s quite possible the person you’re angry with, doesn’t even remember that you’re angry with them, maybe, never even knew you are angry with them.
So who are you hurting?
It’s simple, the only person getting hurt is you!.
Perhaps someone has really wronged you, maybe they really hurt you. I challenge you to think this way; is it possible, that they never really intended to hurt you, but were only doing what they thought was right to preserve themselves.
In the above example I talk about the persecution of the black people in South Africa for decades I challenge that the white population that they were persecuting when Mandela was released from prison maybe forgot what started the persecution 27 years before! Heck, some of them may never have even been born then! But, they were raised angry! They were raised to persecute! They were raised to discriminate!
Were they wrong to do this? Well… of course they were wrong. But, it’s what they were taught and raised to believe was right. So consciously, I think, what they were doing was self-preservation and what they thought was right… not something to really wrong the black people. Does this make them any more right? No. But maybe it gives you a reason, to forgive them.
If you were to drive in America, we drive on the right hand side of the road. If you take a holiday in the UK, and you drive on the right-hand side of the road, never knowing that in the UK, they drive on the left-hand side of the road, are you wrong?
Yes, technically you are wrong. You’ll cause accidents. But it’s all you were ever taught! So could you be forgiven for driving on the right-hand side of the road. Sure. Though… once you realize that you should be driving on the left inside the road, you need to learn to drive on the left-hand side of the road. Otherwise, there will be accidents.
Question… Are you harboring anger against people that have wronged you that may not even realize they did anything wrong. Is it possible that you never expressed you’re anger with them? If so…perhaps they don’t even realize they should ask for your forgiveness.
Just an idea… Maybe it’s time to offer forgiveness more freely. Maybe it’s time to stop harboring such anger. Maybe it’s time to stop hurting yourself by harboring this anger.
Imagine a day without anger. A day without that seething anger that you may be harboring against someone or some group of people for years. Try just letting go of that and forgiving them.
Now your initial gut instinct and knee-jerk reaction, could be righteous. “I have a right to be angry!” “I have a reason to be angry!” And that may be so…
But who is the anger really hurting? It’s hurting you. Especially, if the other person or party you’re angry at doesn’t even know you’re angry with, or perhaps doesn’t even care that your angry with them!
Make a list of the people you’re angry with. Maybe it’s a shortlist, maybe it’s a long list. Try and remember why you’re angry with them. Pick one person, and forgive them.
You don’t have to make a big production of forgiving them. In your heart, just forgive them. Let it go. Just think to yourself, “It’s silly for me still to be angry with Pete. It was so long ago and it’s water under the bridge. We all make mistakes!” And let go of the anger, take deep breath and just let it go….
Now doesn’t that feel better! I know, this is easier said than done. But it’s so important, anger is such a dangerous fearful emotion. It is my belief, that anger causes a lot of illness, a lot of pain.
Please try this, I know it may be difficult… But if you really, really, do this. If you really forgive those who harbor anger against you… You WILL eliminate fear and pain. Good luck!
