Forgiveness the 490 Principle

Forgiveness is a very important principle for all of us. Many times we feel that we are justified in our unforgiveness. However, unforgiveness is about us, we are the ones that are holding the unforgiveness.

When Peter came to Jesus and asked Him how many times he should forgive his brother, and Peter offered "7 times?"

Jesus said to Peter, "No, not 7 times, but 70 times 7 times.I believe that Jesus was reminding Peter that short of brain damage, we are not going to forget something. Jesus was talking about the process of forgiveness. The way I encourge people to deal with unforgiveness is to remember this short saying: "The moment you relive, is the the one you forgive."

So, this is the process of forgiveness: As you remember a wrong done to you, stop and say, "Lord I forgive _______ for the wrong that they did to me, I choose to forgive them." Now, that is forgiveness number 1. Let's say that 10 minutes later you hear a song on the radio or read something in a magazine and it reminds you of the person who 10 minutes ago you forgave. Well let's say that your upset/hurt/anger is back again. This is your next opportunity to forgive. You would repeat the pray, "Lord I forgive ______ for the wrong that they did to me, I choose to forgive them."

You would repeat that process every time the memory returned. Eventually, you will begin to notice that you are praying the prayer less and less until one day you realize that you have not thought of that wrong done to you in days or even weeks. Try this simple way of approaching forgiveness. I am sure that you will find healing in this process.

Blessings to you!
Carol

2006 Copyright by Carol A. Deel, MS, LCPC, LCMFT, All Rights Reserved. No part of this may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner.