“Everyone thinks forgiveness is a lovely idea until he has something to forgive.”-C.S. Lewis

Some Thoughts on Forgiveness:
One Sunday, I sat in my Freedom small group and listened as we discussed the chapter on Forgiveness. The sharing was brave and searing; of abandonment, of devastating acts done to the defenseless, of backs laid open by the lash of cruel words. As we shared, an image began to form in my mind from long ago. When my sons were small, every year their elementary school would have a “Spring Fling”. We would weave through a gauntlet of booths designed to take your money and give you schlock; a ring toss to win a 2 liter drink, a cake walk, a dart game to win a goldfish in a bowl.
Inevitably, as the night wore on, it would start. They would run up to me, their hair plastered to their foreheads with sweat, flushed cheeks, candy stained mouths, and say:
“Here Mama, hold this!” “Here Mama, hold that!”
And by the end of the night I would be laden with all of their junk. I’d roll my eyes, and do a little tongue-in-cheek grumbling, but really I didn’t mind. I loved to watch them free their hands and run off to play, carefree and laughing.
And that’s when it came to me, that we could do that too. We could just decide that we didn’t want to carry it anymore. We could just choose to give our hurts to God to hold.
“Here Daddy, hold this!” “Here Daddy, hold that!”
It doesn’t mean that its right what they did, that its right what they said, but we could just let Him hold it for us, so we could move on. We could just let Him decide what to do with it, that stale pound cake, that flat 2 liter drink, that goldfish that will be dead in the morning.
And He won’t even really mind holding those things for us, those things that are binding our hands and weighing us down. Because like any good parent He enjoys watching His children enjoy their lives. And then our hands would be free…and we could just go out and play.