The Price of Forgiveness

In a recent article in the Houston Chronicle the question was asked about the price of forgiveness. Turning on the news these days we hear so many stories of politicians, celebrities, and famous athletes to name a few being forgiven for the "sins" they have committed. It does have to make us wonder what is forgiveness really about? Whitney Casey who wrote "How much is the price of forgiveness" rightly asks is the willingness to forgive directly propotional to the negative consequences of not forgiving?" It is true that forgiveness is a voluntary act in which you make a decision to see a situation differently. Forgiveness helps us change the way we think so instead of seeing a situation through the lens of anger, guilt or fear we see it through the eyes of compassion and understanding. Instead of getting stuck in your own emotional baggage you can now see the situation differently with greater wisdom and understanding. That is forgiveness.

I think that the next time we hear public stories of people asking for forgiveness we may want to ask ourselves has there been an inner change within the person who is forgiving. Has the way this person perceives the world changed? If the answer is no then we are only cheapening forgiveness. We live in a fast food society where we want everything to be quick. Unfortunately for forgiveness to be healing there is no quick fix.

Dr. Eileen Borris
Author of Finding Forgiveness
dreileenborrisdotcom