Forgiveness

       I was speaking to a friend of mine today about our families and hurts from long ago.  Holding onto the hurt lets it control your life.  Forgiveness can be a very hard thing to give.  I should know, I have a hard time forgiving my father for choosing to abandon me twice in my life, once as a child and once as an adult.  It's easy to say that you forgive, but to live it is much more difficult.  Especially when the behavior doesn't change and you must forgive the past actions AND the future.  That is my struggle.  I can forgive the past, but in protecting myself from the future I hold onto the past. As Easter approaches, I am always so awestruck at the sheer magnitude of what Jesus was doing for mankind.  Even though I am decidedly a Catholic Christian,  I don't think you have to be religious or even Christian to reflect on the generosity of the gift.   Whether you believe that Jesus is the Son of God or not, the gift was something extra ordinary. It is an amazing sacrifice for one man to give his life for mankind.  Every mother knows that she would lay down her life in a heartbeat for her children, but would you do it for everyone you know?  Would you do it while they were beating you? mocking you?  Would you be able to endure the pain and suffering?  Would you be able to forgive the cruelty? I don't think there are any of us that truly could.  Many of us are not even able to speak our minds without hesitation, much less act virtuously all the time.  Forgiveness seems like such a far away dream, but if only you choose to wake up, the dream will end and forgiveness can begin.  So as I struggle to awaken and fully forgive the past, I ask you also to awaken your soul.  Live, Forgive, Love.  Each day is a precious gift.