Forgiveness and New Life

As I approach the end of Lent, I look back on all that has transpired these few weeks.  Where have I seen signs of new life?  A consistent theme for me has been forgiveness.  As most of us know, forgiveness wears many faces.  I have been confronted with two situations that have invited me into the dance of forgiveness in some form or fashion.

One relatively minor incident came from an email message that I had sent to someone who works on some of the antique things in our house.  I immediately got a message back: “please have some respect and email at a more business like time.  I would never contact you before 10 AM!”  I responded that it would never happen again thinking that she would never again hear from me period!  Well, something that she had worked on and had guaranteed began to have problems.  I really didn't want to give her my business but I didn't want to pay someone else just because of my pride.  I contacted her.  I was a little uneasy when she showed up.  As she approached the door she was all smiles.  She could hardly get one foot in the door before she began apologizing.  She explained what had been going on with her along with a whole list of her faults.  She looked at the furniture and kept apologizing.  At one point she just grabbed me to hug me.  I said, “it is over – in the past!”  I found myself wanting to find more work for her to do,  she was so repentant.

The second attack came from a closer connection.  I was attacked brutally in an email by what he assumed to be true.  I was numb for a while.  After a few weeks I decided that it was up to me to do something if I ever wanted to move out of this bondage.  I set up a time for us to meet in a public place where I could explain my side of the story.  That day came and I said that I was sorry for the hurt that he had experienced.   I was very open and honest to the point of tears.  He continued to berate me complete with the veins of his neck almost bursting through.  He left.  I followed after a few moments, moving home very slowly.  I was quite sad, not having the happy ending that I had hoped for, but was able to move on in my life, putting this behind me.

These are two very different stories of forgiveness and they both brought new life.  In the first, I will continue to get my furniture worked on and I believe that a genuine friendship was birthed.  In the second, I did what I needed to do and am now moving on.  Both situations took me out of bondage and brought me to new life.  Forgiveness is a very real part of our moving into the resurrection.  The Dean has challenged us all to look for signs of new life during this season, “Our world needs people who can come alive!”  Where have you been seeing signs?