Cup of Inspiration

Today, September 8^th, is Pardon Day. Today we reflect on forgiveness and second chances.

We all have been wronged in our lives. It may have been something as simple as someone cutting in front of you in line. For minor offences, it’s easy to forgive and forget. After all, life is too busy to hold grudges.

However, there are those wrongs that have caused much deeper hurt. Physical and/or mental abuse can have life changing effects. Someone’s actions may have caused you financial hardship that can take years from which to recover. Perhaps a worker’s neglect has caused you physical harm. When the impacts are deep and very painful, it can be hard to forgive.

You may also be having a hard time forgiving yourself. You made a mistake, and you keep reliving the moment, wishing you could go back in time to make it right. The pain may very well be enough to keep you from moving forward.

Forgiveness leads to the path to move forward and move past the pain. It is to the benefit of the forgiver, not necessarily the one receiving the forgiveness. Many have mistaken forgiveness for letting someone off the hook, saying it was okay what they did. They may think that by forgiving someone, that negates the pain that was inflicted. However, this is not what forgiveness does. The pain is real and should not have been inflicted.

When you forgive someone, you are taking off the burden of holding a grudge. You are allowing yourself to move past the pain. You are saying that your life and happiness is more important than spending energy holding on to painful thoughts of the one who did you wrong. Forgiveness can help you start down the path to healing.

This holds true as well if can’t forgive yourself. While it may be debated if time travel is real, the reality is you can’t go back in time in a time machine and change what you did or didn’t do. If you are beating yourself up for something in your past, let go. Reflect on the mistakes from the past, take note of the lessons learned, and move on. This may not be as easy as it sounds but work on it. Take everything one day at a time. Give yourself a second chance.

Pardon Day is not a day to let guilty people off the hook. It isn’t a day to say that the harm inflicted didn’t matter. Pardon Day is a day to reflect on how you were hurt and choosing to put yourself ahead of the pain through forgiveness.