Day 3

 I’m up early!! Ready to board that cruise ship!!

I really can’t leave for another four hours so I have plenty of time to write. Actually, I have plenty time to exercise. Pray, read, craft, write and watch TV. Hopefully it will be productive. Of course I could just lay in bed all morning but that gets me nowhere toward my goals.

This morning I am thinking about forgiveness. It’s tough. Forgiveness is something that I have total control over. It’s so easy to forgive someone when they are truly sorry. Like when my kids did something wrong when they were little, they were sorry. Easy forgiveness. When my kids did something wrong when they were older, it was a little different. They knew they were breaking a rule before they broke it. Were they sorry? Yes, but they were most likely sorry for getting caught. They knew they did something wrong and my love them could help them not make the same decision again. Easy forgiveness.

My circumstances today are different. I’m trying to figure out how to forgive someone in a totally different situation. The person really doesn’t think they did anything wrong and they aren’t sorry. With this impossible task, I could just walk away and never really forgive them. I could just continue thinking I’m right and they are wrong. I think it’s a little more complicated than that “right and wrong” thing. It’s more like your behavior has made me sad or mad and I forgive you for being who you are. I forgive you for thinking you were better than everyone. I forgive you, and I hope you don’t treat others in the way you treat me. I forgive you and I hope in this next stage of your life you can be kinder. I forgive you and I think you’re an idiot. OK clearly I’m not ready to forgive this person! Hey, at least I’m working on it!

Now I only have 3.45 hours before I can get on that ship. I’ll put on my Apple Watch and work toward closing those rings. (FYI I already closed my imaginary prayer ring! - Go back and read Day 1 to understand)