Excerpt from There Is Sunshine From The Rain - Forgiveness
What Is Forgiveness?
Psychologists generally define forgiveness as a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness.
Just as important as defining what forgiveness is, though, is understanding what forgiveness is not. Experts who study or teach forgiveness make clear that when you forgive, you do not gloss over or deny the seriousness of an offense against you. Forgiveness does not mean forgetting, nor does it mean condoning or excusing offenses. Though forgiveness can help repair a damaged relationship, it doesn’t obligate you to reconcile with the person who harmed you, or release them from legal accountability.
Instead, forgiveness brings the forgiver peace of mind and frees him or her from corrosive anger. While there is some debate over whether true forgiveness requires positive feelings toward the offender, experts agree that it at least involves letting go of deeply held negative feelings. In that way, it empowers you to recognize the pain you suffered without letting that pain define you, enabling you to heal and move on with your life.
While early research focused on forgiveness of others by individuals, new areas of research are starting to examine the benefits of group forgiveness and self-forgiveness.
My lips quiver
I have prayed over it
I have read my bible
I have kept the secrets for years
My pain is buried deep down in my soul
You have lived your life
You have no idea
I am a prisoner of the circumstance
In order to be free, I have to forgive you
I take out my tablet
I write a letter to you
I start and the words won’t come
I start again, and the pen writes the first word “I”
I stop
I have to do this for myself
It’s been years
I can’t take it to my grave
I have to release it
The memories flood my brain
I start crying
It feels like it was yesterday
I have to gather the strength
I look in the mirror, and I have aged
The gray in my crown is from the image I see
I go back into the room
I pick up the tablet again
This time the words begin
Slowly the pen glides across the paper
When I am done, the papers are many
I have emptied out every emotion that was bottled up
I forgive you
You can no longer hurt me
You can no longer keep me in the past
A strong breeze comes through the window
A smile comes across my face
I am finally free as a bird
I forgive you
After I realized that I had to forgive me
(c)2017 There Is Sunshine After The Rain
Synopsis
Sitting there with the pieces of your life around you, there seemed to be a pattern. There was faith, love, deceit, lust, and loss—in that order. You didn’t think you were deserving of love. That is why everything was being taken from you, and you were ready to give up on life. Through your poetry, faith, and learning from your past, you can rewrite the story. It was after coming through all the experiences and being stronger, you realized there is always a new chapter. The book will take you on the journey of a young girl growing up in Connecticut, who had to take some stumbles along the way to come into her own and realize instead of tearing herself down for the decisions she made, there is a lesson. Love is greater than anyone can imagine and can warm you like the sunshine after the rain. You went from the beginning, the journey, the test, and the testimony to say, “There Is Sunshine after the Rain.”
Blessings,
Submitted by
Patricia A. Saunders
Blogger, Poet, Author
www.patriciaAsaunders.com
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