Thought I'd share something I found on forgiveness that made sense to me. It's from the co-founder of The Forgiveness Institute.
He defines forgiveness as "The freely chosen foregoing of resentment or revenge when the wrongdoer's actions deserve it and the beyond duty act of overcoming evil with good by giving the gifts of mercy, generosity and love when the wrondgoer does not forgive them."
The article this comes from goes on to say that "Forgiveness is not saying what happened doesn't matter. Forgiveness can be difficult if the offender doesn't admit to any wrongdoing. What happened does matter. By forgiving you are not condoning or excusing inexcusable behavior. After all, if what happened doesn't matter it doesn't need to be forgiven. Forgiveness is not giving up your right to obtain justice.... While forgiveness has nothing to do with whethe rour offender is willing to make restitution to us, our healing will be quicker and the likelihood of reconciliation greater if the offender shows remorse and takes actions to correct the damage he/she caused."
The article is about forgiveness as a tool to either save your marriage or help you to move on.
Hope it's useful.
me 45 H 46 T 5 M 2.5 BD Sept 6 2011 OW Sept 8 2011 Threw him out Sept 8 2011
