Someone asked me to recommend a book on forgiveness today and I mentioned my favorite author on the subject, Lewis Smedes. I also shared with this person a very powerful definition of forgiveness: Giving up all hope of a better past.
Since then I've found myself prowling around on the net looking for more material and I came across this:
Many promising reconciliations have broken down because while both parties come prepared to forgive, neither party comes prepared to be forgiven.
It often hurts our pride to be forgiven when we prefer to hang on to the belief that we've done nothing wrong. This dynamic is really something to bring to our reflection time, I think.
"Giving up all hope of a better past."
ReplyDeleteThat is an awesome definition. Thank you for it. I want to chew on it for a while. It certainly strikes me as profound.
Yes, I agree, Paul. When it first came to my attention, it really turned some things around for me.
ReplyDelete