"I FORGIVE YOU''

“I kept hoping that she would regain consciousness,” lamented the EMT following the death of the victim.  “I wanted to tell her that she could see her grandson.  I wanted to tell her that I forgave her.” 

Crewmembers scrutinized the face of this former GI, a one-time Golden Glove champion, and a Twin Cities EMT.  He had the reputation of being a no-nonsense kind of guy. While fellow crewmen searched his face for some indication of a joke; they watched in silence, until they saw him stand up, turn away, and quietly mutter “that’s my mother!” 

Gary’s dad and mom divorced long ago. His alcoholic mother had turned her two young sons over to community foster care and Gary had not heard from his mother in twenty-six years.  He only met her now quite by accident, while making an emergency run searching for an accident victim. Any whispering remnants of hidden hope for a family reunion stayed locked and deeply buried in the steel vault of Gary’s hardened heart. 

Feelings festered with infection  were buried deeply and long forgotten. What might have could never be. Yet; “It was strange“ he mused; “She never called me once in the twenty-six years since I’ve been out of the military service, but in her purse she had pictures of me and some stories about me that were written when I was boxing fourteen or fifteen years ago” (Saint Paul Pioneer Press/11-18-1996).

Forgiveness is essential to the recipe of human relationships. Any recipe calling for lasting relationship requires at least  some element of forgiveness. Acts of intentional forgiveness are essential to our recipe simply because relationships by their very nature remain imperfect at best. Seldom can a relationship mature without some kind of meaningful communication  that delivers the three essential words—"I forgive you.” 

No communication will inject more meaning into a relationship than the simple, forthright confession that affirms “I forgive you.” No verbal or written  communication can convey the message in fewer words. “To err is human” concluded Alexander Pope when writing “The Eternal Now” but “to forgive is divine.” Thomas Fuller agreed, it is “the worst of men … who will not forgive.”           

Searing winds of hostility scatter storm clouds of distrust and hatred across the face of our globe. Angry attitudes, resulting from unforgiving spirits, create broken relationships and scatter them like burning embers. Such ongoing experiences forever justify our determined embrace of negative feelings while our tensions escalate and quickly sour, leaving us hostage to our infected feelings that cannot be cured without being confessed. 

No investment we make, can-or-will pay a greater dividend, or create greater peace-making skills, than to reach for a personal reconciliation. If we could but resolve our relational problems of marital discord, racial strife, and social tension, we could eventually resolve our global issues of ethnic cleansing, genocide, poverty, and peace. 

Paul, the Christian Apostle, may have known more than we give him credit for, when he exhorted his readers to “get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Eph. 4:31 NIV). As the Society of the Saints, we can neither escape nor ignore this existential imperative, without great personal risk. 

Forgiveness remains our most essential ingredient for building healthy relationships in today’s global community. Forgiveness paves the highway into the land of healthy living and builds foundations for healthy living. It mends broken fences; it heals wrecked relationships. It sustains marriages. It builds communities and injects extraordinary infusions of  wholesome living into ordinary congregations, transforming them into happy hearts, loving relationships, and healthy families. 

From  Warner’s World, this is walkingwithwarner.blogspot.com

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