I don’t know the pain you carry or the memory that haunts you most often. What I do know is carrying those pains can lead to exhaustion, defeat, and compounded problems.
We’ve all been hurt by someone, and we all handle it in different ways. Some internalize the emotions until they are so buried inside that the pain is numb, while others project the pain experienced at the hands of someone else to everyone else they encounter. This is often the result of unforgiveness, which I like to compare with carrying around empty magazines on our duty belts in a gunfight.
They. Are. Useless. Unless you can reload.
I liken forgiving others to receiving a fresh box of ammo in the midst of a battle when it is needed most.
Unforgiveness is hurting only you. It is holding no one back but you alone. The offender, in many cases, doesn’t even consider this, and their offense is nothing they will address. In fact, even if you weren’t wrong, if the offender doesn’t take the first step to reconcile, then your expression of forgiveness is a major extension of peace and can do great things to maintain, heal, or restore relationships. Even if there is no realistic chance of reconciliation, it creates an opportunity for you to experience peace and to begin healing.
Today, I am challenged to get rid of the empty magazines I am carrying and to reload with forgiveness. Until we have reloaded with the grace and mercy of God, His forgiveness, and forgiving others, we will always be stuck and burdened with those pains. Forgiveness is the first step in the journey of healing.
