One Day at a Time in Al-Anon:
A little meditation on the word forgive can throw some rather surprising light on our understanding of the word. We are asked to forgive those who have injured us. Unless we have first judged and condemned them for what they did, there would be no reason for us to forgive them. Rather we would have to forgive ourselves for judging.
The Scripture says: “Judge not that ye be not judged.” If we do judge—no matter how great the injury, or how premeditated—we are at fault. Following this train of thought to its logical conclusion, we see that we can forgive only ourselves. In doing so, we also forgive the person whose action we have resented.
Today’s Reminder:
“Thou shalt love they neighbor as thyself tells me I must first make peace with myself before I can learn to love others. I must remind myself constantly that I can never know any other person’s motives and conditioning; I must, for my own sake, accept them as they are. A large ingredient of that acceptance is loving tolerance.
“Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” — Luke
“And forgive me for judging and retaliating. Help me to forgive myself; I know this is the first step toward spiritual security.”