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love and forgiveness

Love and Foregiveness

Feb 7, 2017

In February we think of love—Love is the greatest gift one can give to another human being. We celebrate love on Valentine’s Day with chocolates and valentines and flowers and chocolate-covered strawberries! But real love is serious. Jesus talked about loving our enemies. That could include those who don’t agree with us, those who have different political persuasions, those of a different religious affiliation, and especially those who have hurt us or those who just plain don’t like us. That takes love to a whole new level.

Valentine’s Day draws its inspiration from a saint—Saint Valentine who lived in the 4th century. A priest of Rome, St. Valentine was imprisoned for helping persecuted Christians. I guess one needs to be a saint to do that and they say some partners are saints to remain married to another human being for 70 years (that’s as long as some of our residents have been married). My pastor/mentor said it this way, “Actually, you have to be good forgivers.” And that applies to all our relationships. How do we forgive someone who has hurt us?

Corrie ten Boom, who survived the Holocaust, tells of being brought face to face with one of the guards who had mistreated her and her sister in Ravensbruck some years earlier, and her struggle to forgive him.

It was 1947 and I had come from Holland to defeated Germany with the message that God forgives….And that’s when I saw him, working his way forward against the others. One moment I saw the overcoat and the brown hat; the next, a blue uniform and a visored cap with its skull and cross bones. It came back with a rush….Now here he was in front of me, hand thrust out: “A fine message, Fraulein! How good it is to know that, as you say, all our sins are at the bottom of the sea!” And I, who had spoken so glibly of forgiveness, fumbled in my pocketbook rather than take that hand…

“But since that time,” he went on, “I have become a Christian. I know that God has forgiven me for the cruel things I did there, but I would like to hear it from your lips as well. Fraulein”—again the hand came out—“will you forgive me?”

….And still I stood there with the coldness clutching my heart. But forgiveness is not an emotion—I knew that too. Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart. Jesus, help me! I prayed silently…And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm and sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.

 “I forgive you, brother!” I cried. “With all my heart.” For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands—the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely as I did then.”

Canfield, Hansen, Aubery, Mitchell, Chicken Soup for the Christian Soul (Health Communications, Inc. Deerfield Beach, Florida 1997), 2. Reprinted from Guideposts Magazine, 1972, Carmel, NY 10512.

Love and forgiveness intertwined! When we love we are most like God, but we experience God’s forgiveness when we open up our hearts to forgive.

Know you are loved!

Written by Chaplain Sherree Lane