Forgive and Forget?

Have you ever heard the expression "forgive and forget"? I'm sure you have and if so, were you able to apply it? I, for one, hate when people use this statement. It's not always easy to forgive, although it's always possible. Forgetting, however, is something totally different. When something happens in your life that isn't so good, after a while some people think that all feelings should subside and that all is forgotten. This is where the statement "time heals" comes in. This one isn't always necessarily true either. True, after a while things seem to calm down and you don't have it running through your mind as much as you did in the past, but it's always there. It's etched into your mind like a carving on a stone. No matter how hard you try to erase it from your memory, it remains in the back of your mind.

Now, it's up to you whether you harbor bitterness or not. If you are one to hold a grudge, then you aren't even accomplishing the first half of the statement: forgive. Being forgiving is something that we should all make a habit of. Unforgiveness does nothing but make things harder on you as well as others. As I said, it's not always easy to forgive -- sometimes it seems absolutely impossible. Not true. Think about it... If God, the Creator of the universe and all that inhabit it, can forgive worthless sinners like us, then it is possible for us to forgive each other, no matter the circumstances. Ask yourself... Are you forgiving? Sometimes it takes a while to totally forgive someone. Don't intentionally harbor that bitterness in your heart toward a person. It makes no one suffer but yourself.

Like I said, even when we forgive we never forget. There are things in my life from my childhood that I've forgiven people for that still remains just as clear in my mind as if it happened yesterday. Although I have forgiven them 100%, I still remember.

Just live life willing to forgive those who do you wrong, willing to leave incidents in the past even though they will always remain etched into your memory. Don't hold a grude unless you like to make yourself suffer.

I've preached enough. The end.

-Smashlee