To forgive divine...

Every once in a while, the issue of forgiveness comes up- perhaps it's because I still have much to learn in this area. Admittedly, the lesson doesn't seem to get any easier. Maybe it's because the issues gets more complicated as one grows older.

Alexander Pope once said - 'It is human to err, to forgive divine'. While I admit that people make mistakes, being the recipient mean coping with the hurt inflicted. Sometimes, it hurts like crazy. It makes forgiving the wrongdoer so hard. As much as I long to be a sincere follower of Christ, forgiveness is a word that is so much easier said than done. I read novels where people get injured and the wound starts to fester. In order for the healing to begin, the wound is sometimes first probed for any bits that may cause infection and is followed by the cleansing of the wound. The greater the wound is, the worse the pain gets. As the wound is being probed and cleansed, the pain may be even more intense than when it was inflicted - as if it was not bad enough in the first place. I guess that's what makes forgiveness so hard.

It's not that I don't want to forgive. I do. And I wish I could do it much more freely. The pain of probing the wound gets so great sometimes that I'd just rather leave it alone - even though it's stupid and I know that it may fester and the wound will take even longer to heal. The fact of the matter is: my soul seems to recoil at the thought of facing such pain and I push it till another day.

I find forgiveness is such a hard lesson to learn - impossible even sometimes and I come to the conclusion that 'To forgive is indeed divine'. Perhaps I'll be able to forgive some time soon. But not today - it still hurts too much.