The Good Work Of Forgiveness

Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

—Colossians 3:13

When I forgave my friend at whom I was very angry, I realized that I had to take her off the hook every single time, not just one big time. I had to take her off the hook in the morning, and then again at lunch, when someone gave me a new reason to be mad at her. Over and over, all day, I had to do the heavy lifting work of letting her off the hook. It was like moving a piano all the way across the living room, and then waking up the next morning and finding that it’s back in the other corner, and I have to move it again. Every day I had to push that heavy piano all the way across the living room, even though I just did it the day before. It was like a full-time job, forgiving her over and over, with each new angry thought or bad conversation, but it was good work, like how good it feels to shovel snow or rake leaves in the cold air.

And I keep letting her off the hook, because when I do, I can breathe again.