The Power of Forgiveness

Last night my wife and I viewed one of the most personally powerful programs we've ever witnessed on PBS, "The Power of Forgiveness". It detailed, amongst many examples, how the Amish and a holocaust survivor learned to forgive, how 3 women who lost close relatives in the 9/11 event are learning to forgive, how forgiveness is good for our health, that our soul wishes peace and to begin forgiveness we must develop compassion for our transgressors and the like. Very moving. We have just ordered the DVD and book. You can view their website at: www.thepowerofforgiveness.com You may order the DVD and book at: etvstore.org or call them at: 800-553-7752

On this weekend we honor the sacrifice Jesus made for us all, remembering that He said, in His hour of greatest distress, "Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do".

Recently I have been blogging about a white paper on bigotry, that to end intolerance it begins within each of us. This prgram just nailed it all down for me.

As I have shared recently I got a great gift from a boy who inflicted an injury that lead to the loss of sight in my left eye more that 50 years ago. Now I find I must forgive myself for the anger I held against him. Having gained a powerful gift of understanding from the incident, I thought I had released it all. Now I know that I still have work to do. And the reason it is so important that I do the work is that I have one more powerful gift to recieve. In the Lord's prayer we ask for forgiveness for our transgressions so that we may be forgiven ours. Well the Eastern churches pray for forgiveness of theirs so that our heavenly Creator may extend forgiveness to us. This is the most powerful of all gifts; forgiveness from our all loving Creator.

It's our own inner barriers that make us intolerant and provide fertile soil in which the divisiveness of bigotry grows.

May we all work ourselves free to recieve the great gift of all.

Peace, joy and profound tranquility to all,

Rich