Forgiveness

Our session on forgiveness had just concluded, with several artists coming forward for prayer; they needed to forgive someone, and weren’t quite sure how to do it.  But one artist remained in her seat.  I didn’t think too much of it, but later she asked to speak to me. 

“I feel bad, but I don’t think I have anyone to forgive!” she confessed.  It seemed impossible to her that she could have no one to forgive; what was she missing? 

“Well, don’t make something up!” I admonished her.  She looked shocked. 

“Sometimes we did that as kids,” I continued, “made up sins because we had to go to confession.  I used the ‘I argued with my brothers’ sin because that happened everyday--I knew I was safe with that one!”

That’s as far as we got in the conversation before we both burst out laughing at the absurdity of feeling guilty because we might not have sinned.  It was a joy to see this particular artist laughing so hard—I was more used to seeing tears from her as she battled through some painful issues in her life. 

She laughed and laughed until she finally blurted out, “I’m not used to this joy thing yet!” 

Get used to it, my friend, get used to it.  “Weeping comes in the night, but joy comes in the morning.”