One of the secrets of a long and fruitful life is to forgive everybody, everything, every night before you go to bed. – Bernard M. Baruchn
My idea of forgiveness is letting go of resentment ... ridding yourself of negative thoughts. All they do is make you miserable. Believe me, you can fret and fume all you want, but whoever it was that wronged you is not suffering from your anguish whatsoever. – Della Reese
A person who has an unforgiving spirit is always the real loser, much more so than the one against whom the grudge is held. … By refusing to forgive and by waiting for restitution to be made, individuals allow their personal growth and development to hinge on the decision of others they dislike to begin with. They allow themselves to be held hostage. They say, “If he apologizes.” “If she comes back to me.” “If he rehires me.” “If they invite me.” They play the game of waiting for others to make the first move. In the meantime they allow an unforgiving spirit to weave its way into the total fabric of their lives. – Charles Stanley
Holding on to hurt is like grabbing a rattlesnake by the tail: You are going to be bitten. – Charles Stanley
Resentment comes from two Latin words meaning “to feel again.” When we resent, we allow the negative emotions we feel at the time of a hurt—a disappointment, a betrayal—to recur long after the event is over, flooding our systems with their poisons over and over again. Because of its effect on the human mind and body, it does not matter how “justified” the resentment is. In my 27 years as a practicing psychiatrist—and in the 15 years before that when I was a medical doctor—I have come to regard resentment as a cancer of the personality that is as deadly as any physical growth. – James A. Stringham
Love lets the past die. It moves people to a new beginning without settling the past. Love does not have to clear up all past misunderstandings. The details of the past become irrelevant; only its new beginning matters. Accounts may go unsettled; differences remain unsolved; ledgers stay unbalanced. Conflicts between people’s memories of how things happened are not cleared up; the past stays muddled. Only the future matters. Love’s power does not make fussy historians. Love prefers to tuck the loose ends of past rights and wrongs in the bosom of forgiveness—and pushes us into a new start. – Lewis B. Smedes
Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. – 1. Peter 4:8
Excerpts from an Anchor article, Copyright © 2013 Anchor