Forgiveness

I was reflecting on the idea of guilt this past week. Don’t ask me why. I don’t really know.

At the heart of our faith, besides love and relationships is mercy and forgiveness.

We all make mistakes. Hopefully, we learn from them. In several jobs and roles I have filled, there has been the idea of make every mistake, but make them only once. The idea was to learn from them. As a manager, I held those I was responsible for to the same standard, for the most part.

I never fussed at people for being late, though I did appreciate a phone call as a head’s up. Many mistakes, even costly ones, I forgave, knowing the individual had learned from them.

Some individuals, however, brought a different challenge. They felt so bad about their failure, or mistake, that their job performance suffered. This happens in relationships as well. The person carrying the guilt is either concerned that they are going to mess up again, that they had hurt someone, or that they might do something worse. They have trouble focusing on the tasks at hand.

Guilt is a burden that is not easily put down. It can be made worse when the aggrieved person does not offer forgiveness.

I want to offer, just this. We all make mistakes. Some are accidental. Some are intentional. Some we commit without foreseeing the consequences. However, if we are truly repentant, that is, we acknowledge our failing with a commitment, to the best of our ability, to not repeat the mistake, then that is the best we can do. We may offer our apologies, with the appropriate words, cards, and actions. We cannot control what the other person does. We should remember that they do not owe us anything.

Once we have learned our lesson, and offered our sincere apologies, then it is time to move on. We cannot carry weight that serves no purpose. Life must still be lived, and along the way there will be more mistakes and lessons. Life is an ongoing challenge, and we certainly don’t need to make it harder than it is.

Jesus forgives us our mistakes, intentional and otherwise. With God’s forgiveness, we are free to move on.

As a side note, just as God forgives, so let us also forgive.