Reflections for a New Year

Day 3 - Be Forgiving

We cannot pretend that this year’s pathway,
Will not include its moments of hurt and offence.
So determine to walk its way with an attitude of forgiveness,
Not to diminish the pain inflicted,
But to refuse to be held in its power.

Forgive
And go against the flow of a world
That finds it easier to seek out those to blame
Than to ask what might be done to put things right.

Forgive
And be the one who breaks the cycle of recrimination;
Laying down the burdens of resentment.
And even if your acts of grace are not accepted,
Their worth is undiminished.

Forgive
Because we are called to choose the way of one,
Who in his own agony,
Promised paradise to a fellow victim,
And cried to his Father for mercy
On those who held the power that crucified.