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Today's
Meditation:
I
know several people who would rather hold a grudge than
forgive someone else. These people are unable to
look past an action that they believe is
unjustifiable and see the people behind the actions,
unable to consider what forces might have been at work to
cause someone else to do what he or she has done.
But
Hannah adds an interesting element here, one that
intrigues me. She talks of the "expense"
of anger and the "cost" of hatred, two things
that I never really had thought about deeply. What
do these words mean? How might I find out what the
expense and cost are to me? And more importantly,
how can I avoid these unnecessary and probably very
expensive expenditures in my life?
Forgiveness
definitely can erase anger and hatred, as long as it's
sincere and not put on as a show. Saying "I
forgive you" and truly forgiving them in my heart are
two different things, of course, and the effects on me as
a person are likewise different. If my forgiveness
is not sincere, then I continue to pay the cost of anger
and resentment. And have no doubt-- the cost is to
the person who hasn't forgiven, not to the person who
would be the recipient of sincere forgiveness.
"The
economy of the heart." We can give our hearts a
true gift when we forgive someone, for the heart will no
longer be burdened by our negative feelings towards
another human being.
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