“Ho
w often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? I don’t tell you until seven times, but until seventy times seven.” (Matthew 18:22)
The spiritual tool of forgiveness is often misunderstood. Forgiveness isa spiritual path that releases us from the bondage of our ego, Now, the ego is not something we want to struggle with, anymore than you can reason with a two year old in the mist of a tantrum.
As any parent knows the only answer to the tantrums of a toddler is to hold them, and love them, and tell them those sad or mad feelings will leave.
When my daughter Jill was about 2 years old, we went to Toys R Us and I told her she could pick out any toy she wanted. Well, what a mistake. She was excited about that but when we entered the store, she became overwhelmed. What I discovered is she couldn’t bring herself to choose only one toy and so she cried.
Forgiveness releases us from jumping to erroneous conclusions and keeps our heart open so that we can realize crying and tantrums are not something you can reason away,
My desire for her to choose only one toy was too much for her at that age. Forgiveness helps parents see that the child is not being selfish, but is merely overwhelmed with how could she choose only one. when she had so much love to play with all of them.
Let us this week forgive ourselves seventy times seven so we may be unconditional expressions of love in the world.
Rev Janice
