Daily DevotionalCultivate love and compassion each day this week.
January 29: Respect Boundaries
- Scripture: Ephesians 4:32 — Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
- Reflection: Kindness and compassion create an environment in which forgiveness can thrive.
Note that forgiveness is a process of healing for the person who was hurt, even if that involves forgiving onself. Forgiveness does not excuse someone from accountability for any harm they may have caused. Forgiveness returns the responsibilty for injury to the party who caused it. It also liberates the person who was hurt to make space for holistic and healing emotions and experiences instead, since they aren’t carrying the burden of injury anymore.
At its best, forgiveness also allows the person who caused harm to evolve and mature as a person, by participating actively in the process, and owning their role and responsibility for the hurt they caused. Yet forgiveness does not require that the offender be present or ever participate in the journey of healing. - Spiritual Discipline: Write a letter of forgiveness to someone (you don’t need to send it), and reflect on the freedom that comes with it.
- Forgiveness by Matthew West: https://youtu.be/h1Lu5udXEZI?si=2Pg4Jgqp_iKTp41L
The Hardest Blessing
If we cannot
lay aside the wound,
then let us say
it will not always
bind us.
Let us say
the damage
will not eternally
determine our path.
Let us say
the line of our life
will not always travel
along the places
we are torn.
Let us say
that forgiveness
can take some practice,
can take some patience,
can take a long
and struggling time.
Let us say
that to offer
the hardest blessing,
we will need
the deepest grace;
that to forgive
the sharpest pain,
we will need
the fiercest love;
that to release
the ancient ache,
we will need
new strength
for every day.
Let us say
the wound
will not be
our final home—
that through it
runs a road,
a way we would not
have chosen
but on which
we will finally see
forgiveness,
so long practiced,
coming toward us,
shining with the joy
so well deserved.