The "F" Word...I'm Working On It!

The "F" word- yes- I said it... the "F" word! It is hard to do-- a must for everyone.... so get ready- I have begun the journey of working on the "F" word.... “To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” Lewis B. Smedes. That's right, the "F" word I am working on is....FORGIVENESS! When things happen to us, immediately we hear- Forgive, Forgive! We might pray about it; it might take us a long time to forgive, or some of us even say "I'll never forgive him/her." Maybe you are past that point on your journey. Maybe you have forgiven others in your life and you thought you were moving on. But then, you woke up today still questioning the constants in your life and you realized you were the prisoner! Those constants in your life are still getting to you because you forgot to forgive to MOST important person....YOU! We can control one person in our lives...ourselves. When we realize this- we can let go(easier said than done, right?) OK- we can BEGIN letting go ...we can even forgive ourselves for things in the past, even for our past "idea" of ourselves and our standards. When you have a picture in your mind and that picture gets ruined...for whatever reason....where do you start, how do you learn to love the new picture that you see- the one you are convinced is tainted? You start with forgiveness, acceptance, and looking for the good. We are all on a journey- and we know that as we write our plans in pencil, God is watching us, and then erases them! When we can forgive ourselves, the GOOD starts to outweigh the BAD. That tainted picture in our mind becomes a total picture we can accept. In my life, I am working on the "F" word. After years of forgiving others for my struggles, I have realized that I have been the one in jail...I was held hostage by that overlooked "F" word! So now my journey begins. Today I am free. Today, think of one thing that is positive about the NEW person you have become...start working on forgiving yourself and then start chiseling away!