Seeking and Finding Forgiveness

I was listening to the radio today and a segment came on about missed connections. A woman talked with great anguish about a time when she was in grade school. She had a favorite seat on the school bus and one day a girl was sitting in it. She was so upset that her seat was taken that she bit the girl on the finger. 

She talked about the guilt she has carried for many years because of her action. She has tried to find that young girl over the years but to no avail. Twenty five years later, she retold the story on the radio in the hopes that the person she bit might actually be listening. If so, could she possibly forgive her? 

We all carry guilt over something we’ve done—or not done. Sometimes this guilt weighs us down like a stone and makes us feel like we’re drowning. At other times it sneaks up on us when we least expect, making us feel inadequate and filled with self-doubts. What guilt do you carry? Whose forgiveness do you yearn for? Who might be waiting to be released from their own guilt through your offer of forgiveness?

Colossians 3:12-13 reads: “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you”. 

Forgiveness is core to the Christian faith. It is what releases us from sin and brokenness. It frees us to live into the life God intends. 

Our churches ought to be the places where we get to practice compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. We should be so thoroughly steeped in these virtues that our living is changed. And part of this comes from our ability to give and receive forgiveness as we have received it from God. In this way, amazing grace spills in, through and among us in abundance. 

The woman on the radio has been seeking forgiveness for 25 years. May you experience forgiveness’s liberating power so that any brokenness may find release and healing. May you pass it on to those who are hungry to hear words of forgiveness. Then, may you all put into practice compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.