Forgiveness

"The Earth offers gift after gift--life and the living of it, light and the return of it, the growing things,the roaring things,fire and nightmares, falling water and the wisdom of friends, forgiveness. My god, the gift of forgiveness, time, and the scouring tides.  Kathleen Dean Moore, from Wild Comfort

Life is going to provide lots of opportunities for forgiveness. It is one of the gifts of living--maybe the most difficult to accept or give, but  the most essential for love to flourish.  When we forgive someone else, or even harder, ourselves, we are deciding to know longer carry the hurt we feel.

The earth is a living expression of forgiveness.  Terrible storms, and fires have raged across its surface. Volcanoes and earthquakes have heaved the deep mantle of its frame open.  Droughts  have choked it and floods drowned it.  And then of course, there is us.   Yet over and over, in the aftermath of what we believe is total desolation, it continues.  It does not keep score. Life returns where we thought it impossible; leaving the past behind and turning its energy to starting over.

Forgiveness is not forgetfulness.  The earth's face carries the scars of what it has endured, as do our own hearts. But in the Real World all attention is directed to healing; towards life and the living.  Some recovery arrives almost instantaneously, while other places take eons of time. But the goal is always the same-- to step away from the pain and move into living. It is a valuable gift we can use in our world where grudges disguised as righteousness fuel power and politics and relations. The year is drawing to a close. A measure of time is ending. Think about the beauty of the hills and valleys. Look across the woods, the rushing streams. They have all been created through an act of forgiveness. Imagine what beauty we could create in our own lives, if we could do the same.