i recently watched a movie called "Amish Grace". it was about the Amish shooting at the school in Nickel Mines, PA. it was a really great movie that can teach us all about forgiveness. i really recommend you watch it if you have the chance.
but, i also learned something else from this movie, that kind of goes along with forgiveness (it's what i say is the first step in forgiveness), and that is to not hate the person that should be forgiven.
in one scene of the movie, the younger sister of one of the girls who was shot was sitting in the room talking with her dad. she was saying how she hated the man who had shot the girls. her dad responded to her by saying that she could go ahead and hate the man all she wanted. he said it was completely understandable to hate that man, but (of course) he continued...
he asked her how she felt with all of the hate inside her, good and happy, or mad and angry? and (obviously), she said it didn't feel good.
so, you can go ahead and hate people and feel angry at them for something they did, but how is that going to make you feel? of course you want to get revenge at them, who doesn't? but eventually you have to let go. and it is very hard. that's the part that makes forgiveness so hard, you may say "sure, i forgave them", but if you're still angry with them, then they're really not forgiven.
first let go of the anger building up inside of you, the past is the past. you may not understand why they did what they did (a lot of times there is no reason), but it doesn't matter. what matters is that YOU will feel better for letting go of it all, whether they feel sorry or not, whether they are still angry or not (it actually makes me laugh when the person who caused the whole mess in the first place is the one who's still mad about it).
but anyways, to make a long story short: hate is the strongest weapon, but love is even stronger. let go of your hate, then forgive.
signing off 4 now, i'm chez
(oh, and here's the link for the trailer to the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqCtaX_R978)
but, i also learned something else from this movie, that kind of goes along with forgiveness (it's what i say is the first step in forgiveness), and that is to not hate the person that should be forgiven.
in one scene of the movie, the younger sister of one of the girls who was shot was sitting in the room talking with her dad. she was saying how she hated the man who had shot the girls. her dad responded to her by saying that she could go ahead and hate the man all she wanted. he said it was completely understandable to hate that man, but (of course) he continued...
he asked her how she felt with all of the hate inside her, good and happy, or mad and angry? and (obviously), she said it didn't feel good.
so, you can go ahead and hate people and feel angry at them for something they did, but how is that going to make you feel? of course you want to get revenge at them, who doesn't? but eventually you have to let go. and it is very hard. that's the part that makes forgiveness so hard, you may say "sure, i forgave them", but if you're still angry with them, then they're really not forgiven.
first let go of the anger building up inside of you, the past is the past. you may not understand why they did what they did (a lot of times there is no reason), but it doesn't matter. what matters is that YOU will feel better for letting go of it all, whether they feel sorry or not, whether they are still angry or not (it actually makes me laugh when the person who caused the whole mess in the first place is the one who's still mad about it).
signing off 4 now, i'm chez
(oh, and here's the link for the trailer to the movie: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqCtaX_R978)
