Forgiveness

What a week.

Yesterday I watched the funeral of Margaret Thatcher and all the events surrounding it on Sky News.

I don't want to be political in this post.

Not at all.

She was like Marmite in political terms many loved her, many hated her.

But.

Yesterday if you peel away the layer of the political debate raging as the country reflects on her term of office in government, you see a sad picture.

You can see the work of a silent, dark, destroyer.

I can definitely sympathize and understand the frustration being expressed by many yesterday, but the way some of that frustration was expressed was just abysmal and shockingly bad. But out of all those chronic images, one picture really saddened me yesterday on the news. It was an image of a father holding his baby up to the camera. The baby was wearing a T shirt with "Ding dong the witch is dead" written on it, What on earth have we become? Think about that in human terms, a baby? an innocent child being used to express someones bitterness. The amount of so called political and union leaders and many others openly saying "we will never forgive" Margaret Thatcher for what her policies did to many communities. I can understand the hurt and the pain, I grew up in a family of generations of miners and do understand their anger.

But the bitter effects left by unforgiveness reared it's ugly head in some of those shameful images yesterday.

Anger, bitterness and pain are the constant side effects of the bitter pill of unforgiveness.

They are silent killers.

They destroy a person from within.

Eat people up until we feel like a mess of nothingness.

You could see it plainly yesterday.

They can destroy communities and even Nations.

They have history.

Big history.

I've been away for a few days. I went to my brothers house for a meal a few nights ago. As we sat and ate together my eye caught a glimpse of a small picture in a small silver metal frame on the sideboard in the dining room.

It was a picture of my father.

I hadn't seen his face for a few years.

As I looked at his face, I felt a kind of band of emotions fly through my body with a quickness that went as soon as it came.

I've shared in my early blogs how the relationship I had with my dad was not good. And that's an understatement. A series of truly unspeakable events that no son should have to go through served to leave me hating him to the point a large part of my life was tainted by a bitterness that held me back in life to another point where I felt like I was a worthless piece of dirt. It affected my life so badly. As I looked at the photo my mind went back to the bedroom scenario I have spoke about before, where I sat alone with my dying father lying in bed opposite me. He was in the last series of breaths he would ever take. I remember saying the words "I forgive you dad, I love you."

Then as I looked at his picture, these few years after that day. I feel blessed by the release.

In that simple statement I made at his bedside that day, the silent killers of bitterness, pain and anger had no answer to that. They had to go. I feel blessed because I am stronger, and have a new peace about that in my heart.

As I watched the TV yesterday.

It had me reflecting how peaceful the world would be if people really understood the power of forgiveness.

That's why I think it was the key element of the story of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

It will always be the key to the banishment of the silent killers that seek to destroy, maim and kill.

Always.

And just as unforgiveness has big history, forgiveness has a history! An eternal history!

So a challenge today.

Is there unforgiveness knocking about in your life?

The lie of unforgiveness is this that we would believe that "we could never" forgive this or that!

The truth of forgiveness is yes we can.

Is it time we forgave that person? That incident? That issue? That hurt?

Is something eating you up from the inside. Do you feel immobilized and stagnant? Do you feel angry and bitter and resentful, revengeful, hateful or just plain mad?

Are you tired of it?

Do you long for peace?

Then just reflect today on this bold statement. Forgiveness is the key.

Forgiveness brings restoration, brings the hope back, brings the life back to us. Forgiveness is in its biggest form the key to world peace. So imagine in our situations how effective it could be in releasing us back to a wonderful life, a life in all its fullness?

It can restore nations.

It can restore communities.

It can be the key to rebuilding your life.

I know this post about forgiveness this morning is written simply, probably a bit too simply! And I know it's a really tough subject for any of us to get our heads around. And I know when forgiveness is talked about or read about or preached about, it can drag up all kinds of feelings inside of us that can cause anything from the penny dropping to instant rage, but never the less its still truth.

As hard as it is, the only way to kill the silent killers the dark destroyers of bitterness that only seek to hurt us is to forgive.

How we forgive is another thing I know. And I can't offer a lucid discourse on that this morning. All I know is as I sat by my dying father, I just spoke out the words.

And I've never looked back.

I really do pray that this post is the catalyst to bring freedom to somebody today.

Blessings.