Why Forgive? by Johann Christoph Arnold & Steven McDonald

Author:Johann Christoph Arnold & Steven McDonald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Self-Help
Publisher: The Plough Publishing House
Published: 2012-02-10T05:00:00+00:00

Forgiving in Everyday Life

To love at all is to be vulnerable. The only place outside Heaven where you can be perfectly safe from all the dangers and perturbations of love is Hell.

C. S. Lewis

Most of us will probably never be faced with forgiving a murderer or rapist. But all of us are faced daily with the need to forgive a partner, child, friend or colleague – perhaps dozens of times in a single day. And while doing the latter may be less difficult than the former, it is just as important. In his poem "A Poison Tree," William Blake shows how the smallest resentment can blossom and bear deadly fruit:

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright;

And my foe beheld it shine,

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole,

When the night had veiled the pole:

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

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