To Forgive Is To Set A Prisoner

I Worry About Fast Forgivers. They Tend To Forgive Quickly In Order To Avoid Their Pain. Or They Forgive Fast In Order To Get An Advantage Over The People They Forgive. And Their Instant Forgiving Only Makes Things Worse... People Who Have Been Wronged Badly And Wounded Deeply Should Give Themselves Time And Space Before They Forgive... There Is A Right Moment To Forgive. We Cannot Predict It In Advance; We Can Only Get Ourselves Ready For It When It Arrives... Don't Do It Quickly, But Don't Wait Too Long.

If We Say That Monsters [people Who Do Terrible Evil] Are Beyond Forgiving, We Give Them A Power They Should Never Have...they Are Given The Power To Keep Their Evil Alive In The Hearts Of Those Who Suffered Most. We Give Them Power To Condemn Their Victims To Live Forever With The Hurting Memory Of Their Painful Pasts. We Give The Monsters The Last Word.

With A Little Time, And A Little More Insight, We Begin To See Both Ourselves And Our Enemies In Humbler Profiles. We Are Not Really As Innocent As We Felt When We Were First Hurt. And We Do Not Usually Have A Gigantic Monster To Forgive; We Have A Weak, Needy, And Somewhat Stupid Human Being. When You See Your Enemy And Yourself In The Weakness And Silliness Of The Humanity You Share, You Will Make The Miracle Of Forgiving A Little Easier.

Any Moment That Opens Us Up To The Reality That Life Is Good Is A Parable Of The Supreme End For Which We Were Made.

How Many Times Should You Forgive Your Household Bruiser? You Should Not Even Think About Forgiving Him. Not Yet. Not As Long As He Has His Foot On Your Neck. Your Problem At This Point Is Not Forgiving. Your Problem Is How To Get Out Of His Reach. Once You Get Away From Him, You Can Think About Forgiving Him.